Transdanubia – Part 1
Avast area encompassing the western half of the country, Transdanubia – the Dunántúl – is a region of considerable charm and variety, and one which, perhaps more than any other region in Hungary, is a patchwork land, an ethnic and social hybrid. Enclosed to the north and the east by the River Danube, its valleys, hills, forests and mud flats have been a melting pot since Roman times, when the region was known as Pannonia. Settled since then by Magyars, Serbs, Croats, Germans and Slovaks, it has been torn asunder and occupied by the Turks and the Habsburgs, and only within the last 150 years has it emerged from a state of near-feudalism.
Stark testament to these centuries of warfare are the castles which stand at the core of every main town. Around each weathered vár (castle) sprawls a Belváros, with rambling streets and squares overlooked by florid Baroque and the odd Gothic or Renaissance building. In the predominantly flat region of northern Transdanubia – bordering Slovakia to the north – the small lakeside town of Tata and the larger, more ebullient city of Győr both provide fine examples of this genre, whilst close by is the superb Pannonhalma Monastery.
In contrast, western Transdanubia, which neighbours Austria and Slovenia, has a far more varied topography, with the idyllic Őrség hills great for rambling, cycling and other leisurely pursuits. Though Szombathely has the most to show for its Roman origins, with its Temple of Isis and other ruins, the must-see towns in this region are Sopron, with its cobbled streets and beautifully distinct Belváros, and delightfully sleepy Kőszeg.
Cosseted by the rolling Mecsek Hills, the dashing city of Pécs, boasting a Turkish mosque and minaret, is the highlight of southern Transdanubia – a relatively flat tract of land sandwiched between Lake Balaton in the north and Croatia to the south. In the southernmost reaches, almost scraping the Croatian border, the Villány-Siklós wine road has some of the lushest vineyards in the country, and there are more excellent wine-tasting opportunities at Szekszárd, close to the Forest of Gemenc on the way back to Budapest.
While many towns host spring or summer festivals, the most interesting events take place in southern Transdanubia, such as the masked Busójárás Carnival at Mohács, seven weeks before Easter, and the Pécs Weeks of Art and Gastronomy in June and July. During summer, concerts are also held in two unique settings – the Esterházy Palace at Fertőd and the rock chambers of Fertőrákos, both close to Sopron. At the monthly market in Pécs, you’ll sense the peasant roots underlying many Transdanubian towns, whose sprawling lakótelep (apartment buildings) house recent immigrants from the countryside.
Transport links between the region’s towns and cities are excellent. Express trains from Budapest run regularly to the major centres, and there are also plenty of buses and trains to and from Lake Balaton.
Highlights
Pannonhalma Monastery Hungary’s most impressive monastery is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Sopron Atmospheric town featuring a gorgeous Belváros stuffed with Baroque buildings.
Esterházy Palace One of the finest examples of Baroque architecture in Hungary.
Őrség Lush, forested region bordering Slovenia, offering good hiking and cycling and a popular area for village tourism.
Steiner Collection in Kaposvár Unique and wonderful private collection of cast-iron objects and ornaments.
Pécs One of Hungary’s most vibrant cities, with sights galore and the eclectic Pécs Weeks festival of arts and food.
Villány-Siklós wine road Hungary’s most established wine route is a must for wine lovers.
Busójárás Carnival, Mohács The country’s major winter festival sees spooky masked revellers parading through the town and across the Danube.
The Forest of Gemenc Take a hike (or jump on a narrow-gauge train) through the thick forests of the Gemenc.
Northern Transdanubia
Most of Northern Transdanubia consists of the Kisalföld (Little Plain), a fertile but rather monotonous landscape that focuses your attention on the region’s towns. Heading west from Budapest, it’s possible to go via Zsámbék, with its splendid ruined church, but otherwise the main routes lead to Tata, a delightful small town nestled around a large lake, with a medieval castle cocooned amid Baroque and Neoclassical buildings. By far the largest and liveliest city in the region is Győr, which also makes a good base for excursions to Pannonhalma, Hungary’s most impressive monastery, and the wetlands of the Szigetköz with their abundant birdlife. If heading south towards Balaton, the appealing small town of Pápa is worth a brief stop. All the towns en route are served by frequent trains from Budapest’s Déli or Keleti stations, and can also be reached by bus from Népliget Station.
Zsámbék
Now a peaceful village 30km west of Budapest, ZSÁMBÉK was an important crossroads in early medieval times, dominated from 1258 by the hilltop church constructed by the Premonstratensian order. Marking the start of the transition from Romanesque to Gothic style, it is a key part of Hungary’s architectural heritage, and, although partially demolished by an earthquake in 1763, still immensely impressive.
Buses still stop at the crossroads of Szent István tér and Akadémia utca, just north of which you’ll see the church ruins and the equally hulking early Baroque castle of the Zichy family, now a Catholic teaching college. Facing the castle is the Török-kút park, named after a sixteenth-century Turkish well. You’ll pass some nice old wine cellars on the way up to the church (Romtemplom; April–Oct Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; Nov–March Fri–Sun 9am–4pm; 450Ft), where the two towers still stand, with the remains of a rose window between them, plus one nave wall and the outline of the cloister; in addition, a large cellar contains a few carved stones and photos of the ruins as they were in 1889, the year they were restored; unusually, red brick was used in the restoration to show clearly what was not authentic.
On the other side of the village, at Magyar utca 18, the Lamp Museum (Lámpa Múzeum; Tues–Sun 9am–5pm, April–Oct to 6pm; 300Ft) is an unusual private collection of 1200 railway and other lamps, all crammed into a lovely traditional village house with peacocks strutting around the lawn.
The village is known for its Zsámbéki Szombatok or Zsámbék Cultural Saturdays (weekly in June and July), with a varied programme of plays, concerts, exhibitions and children’s events, next to the church. In summer the Zsámbéki Nyári Színház (Zsámbék open-air theatre) stages plays at a former rocket base about 2km north of the village (off the Szomor road).
Practicalities
Zsámbék is reached by frequent bus from Széna tér in Budapest, leaving four times an hour (two direct and two via Perbál) on weekdays, and at least hourly at weekends. The village is 9km north of Bicske, on the main railway line from Budapest to Győr and Vienna, with buses running at least hourly from the train station.
Should you wish to stay overnight, the Hegyalja Vendéglő is a simple restaurant with rooms (23/342-107; €16–25/4001–6500Ft), on the road up to the church, at Corvin János utca 1. Otherwise, there are various riding stables around Zsámbék offering accommodation, or you could stay in Bicske at the Central Café Panzió (22/565-133; €16–25/4001–6500Ft) or the Hotel Báder (22/350-090; €36–45/9001–11,500Ft) on Highway 1 on the eastern edge of town, where there’s also camping. The best place to eat in Zsámbék is at the Lamp Museum’s restaurant, the Lampás Étterem Galéria, which has a short but tempting menu and a nice garden terrace.
Tata
TATA, 74km northwest of Budapest, is a small lakeside town interlaced with canals and streams, at its most charming on misty mornings, when its castle, mills and riding school appear as wraiths on the shores of the central lake. There’s enough to see in a leisurely day, plus horseriding, fishing and swimming for the more active. In winter there’s ice-skating, plus the spectacle of the tens of thousands of geese that spend the colder months on the lake.
Historically, Tata had the misfortune to be right on the war-torn border between Turkish and Habsburg Hungary for 150 years. It was almost wholly rebuilt in the eighteenth century under the direction of the Moravian-born architect Jakab Fellner, resulting in an extremely harmonious Baroque town centre up on the hill, which has been left untouched by later developments in the Tóváros (Lake Town) to the east, where most of the tourist facilities are.
Arrival and information
Tata has two train stations: the main (Vasútállomás) station, 1.5km north of the centre just off Bacsó Béla utca (bus #1); and the Tóvároskert Station, 1km east of the centre, where only local trains stop (reached by buses to Baj and #5). The bus station is a few blocks north of the castle on Május 1 utca, reached several times an hour from the Vasútállomás on buses #1 and #2. Motorists coming off the M7 drive past the bus station to the top of Ady Endre utca.
Information is available from Tourinform at Ady Endre utca 9 (mid-June to mid-Sept Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat & Sun 9am–5pm; mid-Sept to mid-June Mon–Fri 8am–4pm; 34/586-046, tata@tourinform.hu). The main post office is in the old town on Kossuth tér (Mon–Fri 8am–7pm), and there’s a smaller one in the modern district on the corner of Ady Endre utca and Somogyi Béla utca (Mon–Fri 8am–4pm).
Accommodation
Tata has a decent array of accommodation, including private rooms (€16–25/4001–6500Ft), bookable through Gerecse Travel at Ady Endre utca 13 (Mon–Fri 8am–5pm; 34/483-384, gerecsetravel@gerecsetravel.hu). Alternatively, try the handily placed Nedeljkovic guesthouse at Hattyúliget utca 2 (34/481-936; €16–25/4001–6500Ft). The Fényes-Fürdő campsite, which also has chalets and a motel (both €26–35/6501–9000Ft), is by the thermal baths, where bus #3 terminates (34/481-208, www.fenyesfurdo.hu; May to mid-Sept/pool all year). Down by the lake, at Fáklya utca 2, Öreg-Tó Kemping (34/383-496, www.tatacamping.hu; April–Oct) also has chalets (€15/4000Ft and under) plus tent space, while next door at Fáklya utca 4, the optimistically named Öreg-Tó Club Hotel (34/487-960, www.oregtohotel.hu; dorm bed 1800Ft) is a Hostelling International affiliate offering basic hostel accommodation all year.
Arnold Hotel Erzsébet királyné tér 8 34/588-028, www.hotels.hu/arnold. In a peaceful spot behind the Hotel Kristály, this is a pretty classy place, with ultramodern rooms, and a stylish restaurant. €46–55/11,501–14,500Ft
Berta-Malom Panzió Mikovényi út 60 34/587-146, www.bertacentrum.hu. Housed in a Baroque mill straddling a stream, this lively place incorporates a steakhouse and sports club (both open to 10pm) as well as attractive rooms. €46–55/11,501–14,500Ft
Kalóz Fregatt Hotel Almási út 2 34/382-382, www.hotels.hu/kaloz. Smack in the town centre, this colourful building houses five cramped and dreary rooms, though its pub is worth a visit (see Eating, drinking and entertainment). €46–55/11,501–14,500Ft
Hotel Kiss Bacsó Béla utca 54 34/586-888, www.hotelkiss.hu. This unmistakable pink building, between the train station and the centre, has 47 magnificently furnished, a/c rooms, all with internet access. Stunning indoor pool, sauna, solarium and whirlpool. €86–100/22,501–26,000Ft
Hotel Kristály Ady Endre utca 22 34/383-577, www.hktata.hu. This late eighteenth-century building on the noisy main road now boasts two wings; the older one has huge, but rather staid, doubles and singles with showers or baths, while the newer building has infinitely smarter rooms. €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft
Monika Panzió Tópart sétány 34/383-208, www.hotels.hu/monikapanzio. Large and very dull rooms, though the pleasant lakeside setting compensates somewhat. €46–55/11,501–14,500Ft
The Town
All Tata’s attractions are located within close proximity to the Old Lake (Öreg-tó), with the best place to start being the stumpy eighteenth-century clocktower at the west end of Somogyi utca. Across the main drag, Ady Endre utca, is the German Minority Museum at Alkotmány utca 1 (Német Nemzetiségi Néprajzi Múzeum; April-Oct Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; Nov–March Wed–Fri 10am–2pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm; 300Ft). Swabians, Bavarians and other German settlers have long inhabited Transdanubia, and Tata (like Székesfehérvár and Pécs) was almost entirely German-speaking for many centuries. In keeping with their ethic, the folk costumes are less flamboyant than Magyar attire. The museum is housed in the former Nepomucenus Mill, built in 1758 and straddling a weir. A hundred metres further east, at Bartók Béla utca 3, is the Cifra Mill (Cifra-malom), dating back to 1587. Tata is famed for its eighteen water mills, mostly Baroque; however, the town’s bountiful springs dried up in the 1960s due to mining in the nearby hills, and are only now beginning to recover.
Just beyond here lies Tata’s moated fourteenth-century castle (Öregvár; always open; free). Once the hunting lodge of King Sigismund, it was badly damaged by both the Turks and the Habsburgs, and only one of the original corner towers remains; nevertheless its grounds are always popular with courting couples and passers-by. Its residential “keep” was reconstructed in 1897 for a visit by Franz Josef II, and now contains a museum of Roman miniatures and faïence by the eighteenth-century local craftsman Domokos Kuny (Kuny Domokos Múzeum; mid-April to mid-Oct Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; mid-Oct to mid-April Wed–Fri 10am–2pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm; 750Ft).
From the castle a path leads through the park to an impressive, decrepit pile built in the 1760s as an Esterházy Mansion (May–Sept Wed–Sun 10am–6pm; 300Ft), where the Habsburg King Francis took refuge from Napoleon in 1809 and later signed the Schönbrunn peace treaty. After years of use as a psychiatric hospital, a handful of the mansion’s rooms are now open for tours. From here you can wander up to Hősök tere and the Baroque old town, laid out by Fellner. Down to the right, Tata’s former synagogue now houses the Greek-Roman Statue Exhibition (Görög-Római Szobormásolatok Kiállítása; April–Sept Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; Oct–March by appointment; 300Ft; 34/381-251), containing life-sized plaster casts of the Elgin Marbles, Hercules and Laocoön.
The climax to Fellner’s endeavours occurs further along on Kossuth tér, where his statue stands in front of the twin-spired Great Church designed by himself and József Grossman, but which wasn’t completed until seven years after Fellner’s death in 1780. A crag behind the church is named Calvary Hill (Kálvária-domb) and has a crucifixion monument, to which a more secular age has added an outdoor Geological Museum (Szabadtéri Geológiai Múzeum; April–Oct Tues–Fri 10am–4pm, Sat & Sun 10am–5pm; 300Ft), a nature reserve and a lookout tower offering fine views of the town and into Slovakia (May–Aug Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; 300Ft).
East of busy Ady Endre utca, peace returns as you turn off by the Hotel Kristály into Hattyúliget utca, leading to the 500-acre English Park (Angol Kert) surrounding the Small Lake (Cseke-tó). Laid out in the 1780s in the naturalistic English style, the park contains a fake ruined church cobbled together from Roman and Benedictine stonework, and an outdoor theatre and swimming pool, added in the twentieth century. The palm house at the park’s entrance has been transformed into a conference centre and restaurant, while Hungary’s Olympic team has its main training facility along the park’s southern edge.
Activity seekers will also find plenty to do in Tata. On the western shore of the Old Lake, at Fekete utca 2, is a grandiose Riding School (Lovasiskola; daily 9am–noon & 2–6pm; 30/2422-233), modelled on the Spanish Riding School in Vienna, which has been going for over a century; it offers lessons (900–1500Ft for 1hr), cross-country riding through the woods (1200Ft), and carriage rides (3600Ft). Tourinform can supply details on angling in the lakes out towards the thermal pool (May–Sept 9am–7pm; 900Ft) at Fényes-Fürdó on Fényes Fasor, reached by bus #3. Rowing boats (csónak) and pedal boats (vízibicikli) can be rented on the eastern side of the Old Lake, from a spot 500m south of the Monika Panzió.
Eating, drinking and entertainment
The classiest restaurants in town are La Casa at Országgyűlés tér 3, with a richly diverse menu of fish, sometimes including barbecued crabs and grilled swordfish, and the Pikantó, down by the lake at Tópart sétány 13, which has a similarly Mediterranean flavour in addition to some sophisticated Hungarian specials such as paprika-spiced pancakes; this should not be confused with the slightly more downmarket Pikant alongside. Aside from these, the Phoenix Taverna at Bartók Béla utca 1 might not look like much from the outside, but it’s the most intimate place around and serves reassuringly solid Hungarian food, whilst further along towards the castle, the Mediterraneo Étterem at Váralja utca 20 does a fair job of preparing authentic Mediterranean dishes using the freshest vegetables, fruits and spices. The lakeside Halászcsárda, at Tópart sétány 10 (closed Mon), should satisfy even the most demanding of seafood connoisseurs with its array of freshly caught fish.
For drinking, just about the liveliest place is the Kalóz Fregatt Pub, attached to the hotel of the same name, a breezy, pirate-themed place knocking up jugs of beer, cocktails and a varied live music programme at weekends. A gem of a coffee house is the very ornate Barta, by the entrance to the English Park at Sport utca 1, which serves fine coffees in its best china.
Tata’s main annual happening is the Water-Music-Flower Festival on the last weekend of June, featuring concerts and dancing, a flower show, and a craft fair in the castle grounds.
Komárom and around
KOMÁROM, 18km northwest of Tata, is the main crossing between Hungary and Slovakia, linked by 500-metre-long road and rail bridges to Komárno, across the Danube. The two towns formed a single municipality until 1920 and ethnic Magyars still predominate on the Slovak side, where streets and shops are signposted in both languages. Though neither town has much to offer in the way of sights, the easy crossing and good connections to Bratislava from Komárno make this a useful stepping stone en route to the Slovak capital.
The confluence of the Danube and the Váh has been a fortified crossing point since Roman times, reaching its apotheosis in the nineteenth century with the building of three Habsburg fortresses. The most accessible of these is the Monostori Fortress (Monostori Erőd; March–Oct Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; 1050Ft; www.fort-monostor.hu), 1km west of the train station, which can lay fair claim to being one of the largest fort complexes in Central Europe. Covering 32 square kilometres and containing 4km of underground passages, Monostori was built following the 1848–49 Hungarian Revolution, and was also one of the most technologically advanced fortresses of its day, with a complex system of bastions, trenches and gun shelters. Later it served as a training base for the Hungarian army, and, during World War II, as a transportation camp and prison, before Soviet troops moved in. Following their departure in 1990 the fort underwent a major restoration programme, reopening as a public monument in 1998. The decently presented museum inside the fortress relates the history of the three forts on the Danube’s south bank and the two on the north bank, together with a bakery museum and lots of Warsaw Pact military hardware.
The star-shaped (as its name implies) Csillag Fortress (Csillagerőd; May–Oct Sat & Sun noon–2pm; 300Ft), east of the centre on Bem utca, was built between 1871 and 1877 on the site of a fort erected in 1586 to control the confluence of the Váh with the Danube; nowadays it serves as a storage depot and there is little for visitors to see. At the same time, the far less impressive Igmánd Fortress (Igmándi Erőd; March–Oct Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; 300Ft) was constructed 2km south of the centre down Igmándi út. It contains little more than a museum displaying Roman stoneworks, but if you’re keen to visit, take a left down Térffy Gyula and follow the path to the right. For a more relaxing time, head to the thermal baths at Táncsics utca 34, fifteen minutes’ walk from the station, which is open all year (daily 9am–8pm; 1050Ft; www.komthermal.hu).
Practicalities
From the station, right by the Danube, it’s a couple of minutes’ walk east to the bridge across to Slovakia, with the Tourinform office just south on the main road at Igmándi út 2 (Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat & Sun 9am–1pm; 34/540-590, komarom@tourinform.hu). There’s plenty of accommodation in town, starting with the most convenient, the Vasmacska Panzió just south of the bridge at Erzsébet tér 2 (34/341-342, www.vasmacskapanzio.hu; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), a functional new place which also has apartments and a decent restaurant. Most of the other options are near the baths to the east on Táncsics utca; best is the colourful and welcoming Forrás Hotel at no. 34 (34/540-177, www.hotelforras.hu; €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft), while the less exciting Thermal Hotel at no. 38 (34/342-447, www.komturist.hu/thermal.html; €46–55/11,501–14,500Ft) has a mix of dingy older rooms and perfectly acceptable newer ones. The marginally better Juno Hotel is across the road at Bem utca 5 (34/340-568, www.junohotel.hu; €46–55/11,501–14,500Ft). There are campsites attached to both hotels, plus the Solaris, at Táncsics utca 36 (34/344-777), which has apartments with shared showers (€26–35/6501–9000Ft); all three sites are open year-round. Rates at all these hotels and campsites include admission to the baths. The best restaurants are in the Juno Hotel and the Bogáncs Étterem beside the Thermal hotel at Bem utca 36, although there’s little to choose between their Hungarian menus. Riviera Snack and Drink at Táncsics utca 34 is a breezy place serving both hot sandwiches and fuller meals (with a decent vegetarian choice), and it also has a bar.
Into Slovakia: Komárno
It takes a couple of minutes to walk from Komárom train station to the bridge into Slovakia. There are now no longer any passport checks, but if you don’t fancy walking across there are four buses a day from Komárom train station to Komárno, and four trains (taking just nine minutes). From Komárno (also known to Hungarians as Rév-Komárom), there are regular trains to Bratislava, 95km away. If you’re entering Hungary, trains run at least hourly from Komárom to Budapest, Tata and Győr, and there are fairly frequent buses to Esztergom (for the Danube Bend).
At Palatinova ulica 13, the small Museum of the Danube (Podunajské Múzeum; Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; free) covers the city’s history up to 1848, and also houses an art gallery. Next door is a small Orthodox Church (Pravoslávny kostol) built in the early eighteenth century by Serbian refugees who had fled from the Turks. Also part of the museum is the Zichy Palace (Zichyho palac; same hours) at Námesti generála Klapku 9, which covers local history from 1848 to 1945 and also pays tribute to two local sons, Franz Lehár and Mór Jókai. The former, the composer of The Merry Widow, was born here in 1870 and initially followed in his father’s footsteps as bandmaster with the local garrison, while Jókai was a prolific writer of sentimental novels. You’ll need Slovak or Hungarian to appreciate the displays. Komárno’s bus and train stations are 2km northwest of the main street, Záhradnícka Slovanská, where the tourist office at Zupná 5 (Mon–Fri 9am–5pm; 00421/35/7730-063, tik@komarno.sk) can arrange accommodation in one of the town’s hotels or pensions.
Győr and around
The industrial city of GYŐR (pronounced “dyur”), 40km east of Komárom, harbours a waterfront Belváros stuffed with Baroque mansions and churches, where streets bustle and restaurants vie for custom. With so much to enjoy around the centre, you can easily forget the high-rise apartments and factories that form the rest of Győr, whose Rába Engineering Works, producing trucks and rolling stock, is one of the country’s most successful industries. The city also makes an excellent base for excursions to Pannonhalma Monastery and the Szigetköz wetlands.
Győr’s history owes much to its location at the confluence of the Rába and Rábca rivers with the Mosoni-Duna branch of the Danube, in the centre of the Kisalföld. The place was named Arrabona by the Romans, after a local Celtic tribe whom they subjugated, while its current name derives from gyürü, the Avar word for a circular fortress. During the Turkish occupation of Hungary, Győr’s castle was a Habsburg stronghold and the town was known as Raab (after the Rába River). After its military role diminished, Győr gained industrial muscle and a different kind of clout. In the 1956 Uprising, its city hall was occupied by a radical Provisional National Council that pressed the Nagy government to get Soviet troops out and to quit the Warsaw Pact immediately.
Arrival and information
Győr’s bus and train stations are on the southern edge of the centre, behind the very grand wedding-cake-like city hall, only ten minutes’ walk from the Belváros along Baross Gábor utca and across Szent István út – a veritable wind tunnel of an avenue that separates the new and old towns.
Tourinform, housed in a glass pavilion at Árpád utca 32, on the corner of Baross utca (June to mid-Sept Mon–Fri 8am–8pm, Sat & Sun 9am–6pm; mid-Sept to May Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 9am–1pm; 96/311-771, www.gyor.hu), can supply information, as well as book accommodation and change money. The main post office is opposite the theatre at Bajcsy-Zsilinszky út 46 (Mon–Fri 8am–6pm), although the one by the train station has longer opening hours (Mon–Fri 8am–7pm, Sat 8am–noon), as does that at the Interspar hypermarket, just east of the centre on the Budapest road, Budai utca (Mon–Fri 8am–8pm, Sat 7.20am–3pm, Sun 9.20am–2pm). Internet access is available at Internet Sarok, Liszt Ferenc utca 20 (Mon–Fri 10am–9pm, Sat 10am–10pm, Sun 1–9pm; 600Ft for 1hr), though the entrance is actually on Pálffy utca; and at Nemszingli Café & Net, Apaca utca 10 (Mon–Thurs 8.30am–10pm, Fri 8.30am–midnight, Sat 10am–midnight).
Accommodation
Győr is bursting with good-value hotels and pensions, many of them tucked away amongst the narrow streets and squares of the old town. For private rooms (€16–35/6501–9000Ft), head to Ibusz at Kazinczy utca 3 (Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 9am–noon; 96/311-700, gyor@ibusz.hu). The cheapest option is a student residence, notably the Szállás Űgyintéző Széchenyi István Egyetem (István Széchenyi University Student Hostel), at Egyetem tér 3, door K4, room 106 (96/503-447 or German 613-551), across the bridge in Révfalu (bus #11), which usually has a few rooms (€15/4000Ft and under) year-round, though they go fast – book through Tourinform. All the campsites listed below are some distance from the town centre.
Hotels and pensions
Arany Szarvas Fogadó Radó sétány 1 96/517-452, www.aranyszarvas-gyor.hu. Nautically themed pension brilliantly located on Radó Island; delightful pine-furnished rooms with mini-bar, internet access and small balcony, plus gym and sauna. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Corvin Hotel Corvin utca 17 96/515-490, www.corvinhotel.hu. Modern hotel and pension (a block to the north) with well-equipped rooms 400m east of the bus station. Very good value. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Duna Panzió Vörösmarty utca 5 &96/329-084, www.hotelspaar.hu. Appealing sky-blue pension on a quiet road east of Duna-kapu tér, with antique furniture in some rooms. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Hotel Fonte Kisfaludy utca 38 96/513-810, www.hotelfonte.hu. Named after the well discovered during construction, this gorgeous hotel has fantastically comfortable rooms with great beds, safe and internet access, plus the classiest restaurant in town. €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft
Hunyadi Panzió Hunyadi utca 10 96/329-162, www.hotels.hu/hunyadi. Quality pension with bright, exuberantly coloured rooms in a good location just behind the bus station. Good little bar serving meals downstairs too. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Ibis Hotel Szent István út 10B 96/509-700, www.ibis.hu. A modern block with a/c and accessible rooms, this is reliably as good as every Ibis hotel worldwide. €46–55/11,501–14,500Ft
Klastrom Hotel Zechmeister utca 1, off Bécsi kapu tér 96/516-910, www.klastrom.hu. Occupying the eighteenth-century priory behind the Carmelite Church, this is far less impressive than you’d expect from this fine building (apart from the conference room in the Baroque library). €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft
Kuckó Panzió Arany János utca 33 96/316-260, www.kuckopanzio.hu. Agreeable seven-room pension in a lovely old townhouse, above a nice café in the heart of the Belváros. Note that the stairs are very steep. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Hotel Rába Árpád utca 34 96/889-400, www.danubiusgroup.com/raba. Comfortable and thoroughly modern hotel with big, airy rooms just a stone’s throw from the Belváros. €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft
Hotel Schweizerhof Sarkantyú köz 11 96/512-358, www.schweizerhof.hu. Along with the Fonte, this is the finest hotel in town: a lobby on each floor and individually styled, designer-furnished rooms with a/c and internet access. €71–85/18,501–22,500Ft
Szárnyaskerék Hotel Révai Miklós utca 5 96/314-629, 317-844. The “Winged Wheel Hotel”, named after the symbol of the State Railways, occupies the old hostel building across from the train station. Spartan rooms with and without bathroom. €16–35/6501–9000Ft
Campsites
Kiskúti Camping Kiskútliget 96/318-986, www.eszallas.hu/kiskuti. Large site 3km east of the centre, beyond the stadium, with a motel and chalets (both €16–25/4001–6500Ft). Take bus #8 from Szent István út, opposite Lukács Sándor utca. Open all year.
Napsugár Külső Veszprémi út 19 96/411-042. Situated 5km south of the centre; take the Kismegyer bus from the bus station. Can be noisy, as it’s near a (minor) railway line. May to mid-Oct.
Pihenő 10-es Fő út 96/316-461, www.piheno.hu. By the old main road to Budapest, 5km east of the centre, with chalets (€26–35/6501–9000Ft). Take bus #11 towards Szentiván from the bus station. Open all year.
The Town
Almost everything of interest in Győr lies within the Belváros, a web of streets and alleys stretching from Széchenyi tér to Káptalandomb, near the confluence of the Rába and Mosoni-Duna. Protected by preservation orders and traffic restrictions, it is a pleasure to wander around. Heading up pedestrianized Baross Gábor utca from the train station, antique side streets beckon on your left, narrow and shadowy with overhanging timbered houses – the perfect setting for a conspiracy. Indeed, Communists met secretly during the Horthy years at no. 15 on Sarló köz, a cobbled alley forking off Kazinczy utca.
Turning off Baross Gábor utca down Kazinczy utca, you come out into Bécsi kapu tér (Vienna Gate Square), overlooking the River Rába, which reputedly escaped flooding in the eighteenth century thanks to a miracle-working statue of Mary of the Foam occupying a chapel beside the former Carmelite Church. Entering the church (built in the 1720s) through a portal whose inscription proclaims “I worked zealously for the Lord of Hosts”, you’ll find a richly decorated high altar and other furnishings carved by Franz Richter, a lay brother in the order. Behind the church stands the erstwhile monastery, later used as a refugee centre and military prison and now housing the Klastrom Hotel.
On the eastern side of the square are two mansions with finely wrought ironwork. The Zichy Palace at no. 13, built in 1778–82, has a balconied Zopf-style facade bearing the coat of arms of the Ott family, who owned it at a later date. Next door, at no. 12, stands the Altabek House, with two corner oriel windows dating from the sixteenth century, and a Baroque portico. Just around the corner, at Király utca 4, is the so-called Napoleon House, where the emperor stayed during a visit in 1809; the Municipal Art Gallery puts on temporary exhibitions here (Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 900Ft).
From Bécsi kapu tér you can carry on uphill to the surviving bastions of Győr’s sixteenth-century castle, housing the Lapidarium, underground casements full of Roman and medieval stonework (April–Oct Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 300Ft). The castle successfully resisted the Turks for decades – unlike the town, which was frequently devastated.
Káptalandomb and the waterfront
Káptalandomb (Chapter Hill) has been crowned by a cathedral (daily 8am–noon & 2–6pm; free) ever since King Stephen made Győr an episcopal see in the first decade of the eleventh century, so the existing building incorporates Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque features. Just inside the entrance on the north side, the Gothic Hederváry Chapel contains a reliquary bust of St László, who ruled from 1077 to 1095 and was later canonized. Sensitively moulded and richly enamelled, it is a superb example of the goldsmith’s art from the workshop of the Kolozsvári brothers. Also here is the tomb of Bishop Vilmos Apor, who was shot by Soviet soldiers on March 29, 1945 whilst trying to protect women and girls seeking refuge in the cellar of the Bishop’s Palace (see below), and died a few days later; he was beatified in 1997. The frescoes inside the cathedral were painted by Franz Anton Maulbertsch, who decorated numerous Hungarian churches in the eighteenth century, while the Bishop’s throne was a gift from Empress Maria Theresa.
The building behind the cathedral, at Apor Vilmos püspök tere 2, houses the Miklós Borsos Collection (Borsos Miklós Állandó Kiállítás; Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 750Ft), a marvellous assemblage of sculptural art by the self-taught artist who designed the Kilometre Zero monument in Budapest. Borsos (1906–90) worked in a range of media, producing a prolific number of sculptures – mostly female nudes, torsos and mythological figures – in addition to statuettes and copper discs with reliefs of eminent Hungarian and European composers, artists and writers. On the other side of the cathedral lies the Bishop’s Palace (Püspökvár), a much remodelled edifice whose oldest section dates from the thirteenth century. Although the palace is not open to the public, a section of the old cellars has been cleverly converted into a small museum (Apor Kiállitás; March–Oct Tues–Sat 10am–4pm; 750Ft), with exhibitions on Győr during World War II and the city’s wartime bishop, Vilmos Apor (see above). Bullet holes in the ceiling of the first room show where Apor was gunned down. Guided tours (hourly, Tues–Sun 10am–4pm) are in Hungarian, though it’s possible to arrange an English guide if you call a day or two ahead (96/525-090 or mobile 20/312-8735).
From here you can walk down Káptalandomb, past the Zopf-style Provost House at no. 15, to reach Duna-kapu tér, a waterfront square alongside which Danube grain ships once moored, and where food markets are still held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Notice the iron weathercock on top of the well – an allusion to the one that the Turks fixed above the town’s gate, boasting that they would not leave Győr until it crowed.
Around Széchenyi tér
Heading up Jedlik Ányos utca from Duna-kapu tér, you’ll find the Ark of the Covenant (Frigyláda emlékmű), a splendid Baroque monument erected by Emperor Karl III in 1731 by way of apology for his soldiers who knocked the monstrance from a priest’s hands during a Corpus Christi procession. Across the road, on the corner of Káposztás köz (Cabbage Alley), the upstairs rooms of the medieval-style Kreszta House holds the Margit Kovács Collection (Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 450Ft), featuring ceramic pieces by the Győr-born artist. Whilst the work on display is not as enlightening as the museum of her work in Szentendre, it is still a delight and worth viewing for its highly distinctive vases, figurines and reliefs.
On the other side of the road, Kenyér köz (Bread Alley) and Szappanos köz (Soap Alley) lead to Széchenyi tér, traditionally the main square, overlooked by eye-like attic windows from the steep roofs of surrounding buildings. Notice the Iron Stump House at no. 4, so-called after a wooden beam into which travelling journeymen hammered nails to mark their sojourn. It now contains the stimulating Imre Patkó Collection (Patkó Imre Gyűtemény; Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 300Ft), which, in addition to housing a number of objects from Africa and Oceania rounded up by the art historian Imre Patkó, has an impressive display of twentieth-century Hungarian and Western European paintings. Next door a fine mansion (built in 1740) houses the Xantus János Museum (Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 600Ft), named after a locally educated nineteenth-century archeologist who emigrated to America and later travelled in China. The free English-language leaflet describes the varied and fascinating artefacts relating to local history, while the collections of tiled stoves and Hungarian stamps need no explanation.
On the south side of the square, beyond an ornate Marian Column erected in 1686 to commemorate the recapture of Buda from the Turks, stands the Benedictine Church of St Ignatius, designed by the Italian Baccio del Bianco in the 1630s. A painting in the sanctuary by the Viennese artist Paul Troger depicts the saint’s apotheosis. Beside the adjacent monastery is the Pharmacy Museum (Mon–Fri 7.30am–4pm; free), a beautifully furnished seventeenth-century apothecary’s that’s still in use. North of the square, at Nefelejcs köz 3, an ex-hospice with two minuscule Renaissance-style yards contains the fabulous Péter Váczy Collection (Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 450Ft) of fifteenth- to eighteenth-century Hungarian and European sculpture, paintings and furniture – look out for the English chair that magically converts into a mini-stepladder. The fine old pink-peach Esterházy palace at Király utca 17 houses the Municipal Gallery of Art (Városi Művészeti Múzeum; Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 900Ft), which houses the Radnai Collection, a permanent exhibition of paintings and drawings by eminent Hungarian artists such as Egry, Kmetty and Barcsay, plus temporary exhibitions by Hungarian and international contemporary artists.
Across the river
Should you want a change of scenery, walk across the bridge over the Mosoni-Duna to the leafy Révfalu (Ferry Village) district, where a fifteen-minute walk will bring you to the Bishop’s Wood (Püspök-erdő), a large park with deer and other fauna. Alternatively, you can cross the Rába via a small island linked by bridge to Bécsi kapu tér and the Győrsziget district. On the far side, on Fűrdő tér, is the newly renovated thermal baths complex (Mon–Thurs & Sun 9am–8.30pm, Fri & Sat 9am–9pm; 2400Ft per day, 1950Ft for 3hr, 1050Ft after 6pm; www.gyortermal.hu), which features both indoor and outdoor baths, as well as an indoor swimming pool with chutes and slides (1050Ft). Down Kossuth utca, at no. 5, stands the recently restored former synagogue, a domed construction built in 1870 to the designs of Károly Benkő. Now owned by the university, it’s used for concerts, particularly during the Mediawave festival, and houses the splendid János Vasilescu Collection of postwar Hungarian art (Vasilescu János Gyűjtemény; Wed–Sun 10am–6pm; 450Ft), notably works by Lili Ország, Victor Vasarely and László Moholy-Nagy.
Eating, drinking and entertainment
There’s no shortage of good restaurants to choose from in Győr, and there are enough drinking spots for a good evening out.
Restaurants
Arany Szarvas Fogadó Radó sétány 1. The hotel’s restaurant offers a Hungarian menu including carp and duck, either in the nautically themed pub or on the terrace facing the town’s fortifications and cathedral.
Fonte Schweidel utca 17. The restaurant in the Hotel Fonte is wonderfully lit and supremely sumptuous, with first-class international food and a marvellous wine list. Expensive.
Komédiás Czuczor Gergely utca 30. Understatedly cool cellar restaurant with an attractive menu of moderately priced fish, game, grilled meats and stews, and good vegetarian options; plus a courtyard taverna. Closed Sun.
Kreszta Ház Jedlik Ányos utca 3. Tasty, wholesome and extremely generous portions of stock Hungarian dishes, in convivial surrounds.
La Maréda Apáca utca 4. Pretty posh, featuring some impressive dishes such as hot smoked salmon, roast lamb and guinea fowl, plus a bistro (from 8am) that’s good for salads, sandwiches and hot breakfasts.
Pátió Sarló köz 7. Overly glitzy place above the cukrászda of the same name, offering a fairly exotic menu including cream soups, stuffed pheasant, deer steak and catfish in paprika and sour cream.
Royal Étterem Árpád utca 34. Despite its somewhat sterile location inside the Hotel Rába, the food here is excellent, as are the (expensive) Belgian beers.
Hotel Schweizerhof Bécsi kapu tér 9. Across the way from the main hotel, its restaurant is one of the classiest in town, with restrained decor and fine cooking; there’s also the less formal Bacchus wine cellar. Mon–Sat 6pm–midnight (depends on the number of guests).
Tejivó Salatbár Kisfaludy utca 30. Hectic, canteen-style place with salads and pastas priced by weight – perfect for a breezy snack stop. Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 8am–1pm.
Bars and cafés
There are several places in town to enjoy a sit-down and a drink, whether alcoholic or caffeine-based.
Bécsi Kávéház In the courtyard at Arany János utca 18–20.Also known as the Wiener Kaffeehaus, this is a long-established favourite for coffee and cakes.
Belgian Beer Café in the Hotel Raba, Árpád utca 34. Unsurprisingly, a good place to drink fine (if pricey) Belgian beers.
Captain Drake’s Pub Radó sétány 1. A saloony place inside the Arany Szarvas Fogadó and also on its riverside terrace facing the town’s fortifications and cathedral.
Hrabal Mozi Teleki utca 21. The coolest hangout in town which, in addition to films and gigs, hosts lots of alternative happenings.
Mandala Teaház Sarkantyú köz 7. This beautifully scented haven behind the Hotel Schweizerhof is a great place to kick back over a pot of tea.
Mozart Baross Gábor utca 30. A classic coffee house.
Pátió Cukrászda Sarló köz 7. Above the restaurant, there’s good coffee as well as an eye-popping selection of cakes.
Poker Pub Liszt Ferenc 8. An enjoyable cellar bar. Closed Mon.
Wan Sör Király utca 9. Smoky little boozer down a tiny alley with head-thumpingly loud music and a youngish crowd.
Entertainment and festivals
Culturally, Győr has plenty to offer. In particular it’s worth looking out for performances by the Győr Ballet Company, which achieved international renown under its founder Iván Márko, formerly the lead dancer of Maurice Béjart’s Twentieth Century Ballet Company. Although Márko has moved on, the locals still cherish it, and performances at the National Theatre frequently sell out; the building, on the corner of Bajcsy-Zsilinszky utca and Czuczor Gergely utca, is easily identifed by its Op-Art mosaics by Victor Vasarely. Tickets (900–2400Ft) can be obtained from the designated ballet box office in the theatre (Tues–Fri 10am–noon & 3–5pm, Sat & Sun 1hr before performances). Tickets for the Philharmonic Orchestra, which mostly plays at the Richter Hall at Aradi Vértanűk utca 16, can be obtained at Kisfaludy utca 25 (Mon–Thurs 8am–4pm, Fri 8am–2pm).
The Hrabal Mozi at Teleki utca 21 puts on art films and world music events (96/550-850, www.hrabalmozi.hu). There are also gigs at the V2 Music Club on Mórics Zsigmond rakpart, and films at Cinema City Győr Plaza at Vasvári Pál utca 1, south of the centre opposite the hospital.
The Bartók Cultural Centre at Czuczor Gergely utca 17 is a regular venue for foreign films, exhibitions and concerts, especially during the Mediawave festival in late April/early May – one to two weeks of avant-garde film, theatre and music (www.mediawavefestival.hu). The Győr Summer Days (Gyori Nyár; www.fesztivalirodagyor.hu) from mid-June to mid-July is a larger festival of music, theatre and dance at various venues throughout town, including Széchenyi tér, the Synagogue and Radó Island. Finally, the Baroque Nostalgia Art Festival, (www.barokk.hu), featuring guitar music, theatrical performances and a Bach concert, takes place during the first two weeks of October at several venues including the Zichy Palace. Tourinform can tell you more about all the city’s festivals and events.
Pannonhalma Monastery
Twenty kilometres southeast of Győr, the low-lying Kisalföld meets a spur of the Bakony, a glorious setting for the fortress-like Pannonhalma Monastery or, in full, the Arch-abbey of St Martin on the Sacred Mount of Pannonhalma (282m). According to the medieval chronicler known as Anonymous, it was here that Árpád was “uplifted by the beauty of Pannonia” after the Magyar conquest, and Prince Géza invited the Benedictine Order to found an abbey in 996. The Order helped Géza’s son Stephen weld the pagan Magyar tribes into a Christian state, and remained influential until its suppression in 1787 by Emperor Josef II. His successor re-established the Benedictine order in 1802 on condition they committed themselves to pedagogy as well as prayer. Today some 320 boys live and study in the school here, with around fifty monks resident at the monastery.
The monastery manifests a variety of styles, the postwar school buildings contrasting with the Baroque exterior of the basilica and a Neoclassical tower. The late-Romanesque/early-Gothic church is the third on this site, having been rebuilt first in 1137 after a fire and then by Abbot Oros (1207–43), who later gave King Béla IV 220kg of silver to help him rebuild the country after the Mongol invasion. Although it was subsequently enlarged and tinkered with, the Gothic elements have been faithfully retained, most notably the high, simple vault. The interior furnishings, however, are mostly mid-nineteenth century, remodelled by Ferenc Stornó after the Turks plundered the originals. Notice, too, the marble sepulchres of two abbots and a princess. From the church you pass through an exquisitely carved Gothic portal (though the door is nineteenth century) and into the cloisters, dating from the early thirteenth century and rebuilt in 1486. Near the doorway is a fourteenth-century fresco, discovered by accident in the early 1990s, whilst on the wall by the doorway are some sixteenth-century graffiti – “Hic fuit”, which translates as nothing more spectacular than “I Was Here”.
Although Pannonhalma’s most sacred treasures are displayed on only a couple of days around August 20, its medieval codices and ancient books are permanently on show in the magnificent Empire-style library. The 400,000-volume collection (around 120,000 of which are on display) includes the foundation deed of Tihany Abbey, dating from 1055 and the earliest known document to include Hungarian words (55 of them) amongst the customary Latin. Entering the library, you’ll see copies of this and of Pannonhalma’s charter, granted in 1002. The monastery’s art gallery (March–Nov) displays a portrait of King Stephen and paintings by Italian, Dutch and German artists of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, plus works marking the monastery’s millennium in 1996 – an apt time for UNESCO to add it to its World Heritage List. A ten-minute walk away is the monastery’s modern wine cellar, where you can taste a selection of wine harvested on the surrounding slopes (1950Ft). Another profitable sideline is the selling of lavender (levendula) oil from the fields surrounding the monastery. It’s advertised as a remedy for depression, insect bites and moths in clothes, and sold in the village shops and at the visitor centre.
Visitors are only admitted on guided tours, starting at the new, and very ugly, visitor centre 200m north of the monastery. After a fifteen-minute film, visitors are escorted along a modern walkway to the monastery where the tour proper begins. Tours in English run at 11.20am and 1.20pm (Tues–Sun; June–Sept daily, also at 3.20pm; 3000Ft), or there are more frequent ones in Hungarian, with English text (May daily 9am–4pm, hourly; June–Sept daily 9am–5pm, hourly; mid-March to April & Oct to mid-Nov Tues–Sun 9am–4pm, hourly; mid-Nov to mid-March Tues–Sun 10am–3pm, hourly except midday; 2100Ft). Churchgoers have a choice of three Masses on Sunday: in Hungarian at 9am and 11.30am, and one with Gregorian chant at 10am. Organ recitals (1800Ft) are given six times a year (including Aug 20, Sept 16, Oct 23 & Dec 26; all at 3.30pm), drawing crowds of music lovers; book at least a week in advance through the Tricollis office.
Practicalities
Pannonhalma can be reached from Győr by any bus or train heading for Veszprém (or vice versa). The train station is 2km west of the village on Petőfi utca, whilst buses pass through the village centre, several a day (check in Győr before leaving) continuing right up to the monastery which is otherwise a steep ten-minute walk up Váralja (following yellow-stripe hiking marks). The 10am bus from Győr is ideal for the 11.20am tour and a leisurely return. Information is available from Tourinform in the cultural centre, halfway to the station at Petőfi utca 25 (mid-June to mid-Sept Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat & Sun 9am–5pm; May to mid-June & mid-Sept to Oct daily 10am–4pm; Nov–April Mon–Fri 10am–noon & 1–4pm; 96/471-733, pannonhalma@tourinform.hu), or Tricollis in the visitor centre (open same times as monastery; 96/570-191, www.bences.hu).
While neither office can arrange private accommodation, both can give a few addresses. Otherwise, there are three places to stay in town: the most comfortable is the Hotel Pannon at Hunyadi utca 7b (96/470-041, www.hotelpannon.hu; €36–45/9001–11,500Ft), with the alternatives being the smaller Familia Panzió at Béke utca 61, 600m off Petőfi utca (96/470-192; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), and the extraordinarily bland Pax Hotel at Dózsa György utca 2, just off Petőfi utca (96/470-006, www.hotels.hu/paxhotel_pannonhalma; €36–45/9001–11,500Ft). The Panorama campsite (96/471-240; May–Sept) is beautifully sited on the hillside at Fenyvesalja utca 4a, 300m south of the village centre off Lestár utca.
Of the several restaurants in the village, the best is that of the Hotel Pannon, which is surprisingly accomplished. The Szent Márton, across the car park from the visitor centre, is fine, although mainly frequented by coach parties. Finally, the Borpince on Szabadság tér has wine-tasting and also serves up hot and cold plates.
Pápa
Forty-five kilometres south of Győr, down towards the Bakony Hills, the small town of PÁPA grew up in the Middle Ages as a milling village, with 26 mills along the Tapolca stream. Its golden age was in the eighteenth century, when the Esterházy family encouraged German settlers. It missed out on the nineteenth-century industrialization drive, thus preserving its elegant Baroque centre, though during the Communist era the Tapolca suffered the same fate as many other streams and springs in the region, being destroyed by pollution and mining. Today the town is best known for its Calvinist College, founded in 1531 and one of the few religious schools to remain in church hands during Communist times, whose illustrious alumni include the national poet Sándor Petőfi and the novelist Mór Jókai. The town is also known as the birthplace of Ferenc Gyurcsány, Hungary’s prime minister since 2004.
Dominating the main square is the Catholic Church of St Stephen, built by Jakab Fellner and József Grossman in 1774–86, with frescoes by the Austrian painter Franz Anton Maulbertsch from the life of the saint (not the Hungarian king but the original martyr). The largest church in Pannonia, it was commissioned by Bishop Károly Esterházy, who from 1783 had the same team build the U-shaped Esterházy Mansion behind the church on the ruins of the old castle. The finest Baroque parts of the mansion (including a local history museum) have been closed for some years now and there are few signs that the profoundly slow restoration work is anywhere near completion. The castle’s chapel has been well restored and is now the reading room of the town’s library. Instead, you could stroll through the Várkert, an extensive English garden (ie an unkempt park with lots of trees) behind the mansion, which is a favourite spot with the locals.
The first Calvinist place of worship, used from 1531 to 1752, is a humble building on Ruszek kőz, the alley leading from the bus station to the Catholic church. The square in front of the church and Fő utca, leading south, are both lined with fine Baroque buildings. At Fő utca 6, the Calvinist History and Art Museum (Református Egyháztőrténeti és Egyázművészeti Múzeum; May–Oct Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; 300Ft), housed in the former chapel, has temporary exhibitions downstairs and a few pieces of peasant-style painted church furniture from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries upstairs. When the chapel was built in 1783, Catholic restrictions required that it should not face onto the street, and should have no tower. Not until 1931–34 did the congregation build a proper church, just down the road on Március 15 tér.
Across the road from the Calvinist church, at no. 12, is the delightful Blue Dyers’ Museum (Kékfestő Múzeum; April–Oct Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; Nov–March Tues–Sat 9am–4pm; 450Ft), one of the largest of its kind in Central Europe. Blue dyeing was a method of colouring cotton popular among the German communities of western Hungary; it declined after the postwar deportation of Germans and was an endangered craft by the 1960s (when the museum opened), but is now back in fashion with Hungarians. The museum fronts a workshop run by the Kluge family from 1783 until 1957, where the original vats and drying attic can still be inspected and demonstrations are held; you can also buy blue-dyed items here.
From the rear of the Calvinist church you can return along pedestrianized Kossuth utca, full of turn-of-the-twentieth-century shops and buildings. Turning left down Petőfi Sándor utca, you’ll find the house where Petőfi lived in 1841–42 while attending the school right next door at no. 13; this was in use from 1797 to 1895, when it was replaced by the grand pile on Március 15 tér. Further down on the left at no. 24 is an empty synagogue, a beautiful but battered relic of a community that barely survived the Holocaust.
Practicalities
Arriving by bus, you’ll be dropped two minutes’ walk east of the centre on Szabadság utca, while the train station is ten to fifteen minutes’ walk north of the centre. All the sights in town are concentrated on Főutca and the parallel Kossuth utca, leading south under an archway from Fő tér. Information is available at the small Tourinform office at Kossuth utca 18 (June–Aug daily 9am–5pm; Sept–May Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 9am–noon; 89/311-535, papa@tourinform.hu), and private rooms (€16–25/4001–6500Ft) can be booked through Ibusz at Fő utca 4 (Mon–Fri 8.30am–4.30pm, Sat 8.30am–noon; 89/323-936, ntours@globonet.hu;). Two excellent places to stay are the Caesar Panzió at Kossuth utca 32 (89/320-320, www.caesarpanzio.hu; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), a cracking little pension whose cool, air-conditioned rooms incorporate some neat touches; and the Arany Griff Hotel, in the Baroque row facing the Catholic church at Fő tér 15 (89/312-000, www.hotelaranygriff.hu; €36–45/9001–11,500Ft), with pastel-furnished rooms and more than ample space, including a little entrance hall and gleaming bathrooms. If these are both full, there’s the small and grubby Főnix Panzió at Jókai utca 4, just past the Blue Dyers’ Museum (89/324-361, www.fonixpanzio.try.hu; €16–25/4001–6500Ft). The Termál Camping, at Várkort út 7, beyond the bus station at the hot baths (89/320-735, www.termalcamping.hu), is the only five-star campsite in Hungary, with features such as a minimarket and bike rental.
The Arany Griff also has the best restaurant in town, serving Hungarian specialities, as well as a funky café spilling out onto the pavement at the front. The Vadásztanya, at Rákóczi út 21, leading west from Kossuth utca, also has Hungarian food in more modest surrounds. At Kossuth utca 8 the Esti Kornél Kávéház is a fairly traditional café, next to the James Joyce Irish Pub.
The post office is at Kossuth utca 27 (Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat 8am–noon), facing an internet joint at no. 30 (Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 8am–noon). In mid-June, the town hosts the United Toys Festival, a series of classical and rock concerts, exhibitions and children’s activities, most of which take place in the Várkert. There’s also the four-day Somló wine festival at the end of August.
The Szigetköz
Twenty kilometres from Győr, you can turn south off the highway to LÉBÉNY, but it’s only recommended for fans of ecclesiastical architecture, since the village’s sole attraction is a thirteenth-century Benedictine Church that once came under the jurisdiction of Pannonhalma. Together with the church in Ják, this is touted as one of the oldest and finest examples of Romanesque architecture in Hungary, though it was actually restored to its original style after receiving a Baroque face-lift from the Jesuits in the mid-seventeeth century. One or two buses an hour run from Győr to Lébény, most continuing to Mosonmagyaróvár.
To the north of the highway, however, lies the Szigetköz or “island region”, bounded by the meandering Mosoni-Duna and the “old” or main branch of the Danube. This picturesque wetland abounds in rare flora, birdlife and fish, making it something of a paradise for hikers and naturalists alike. Unfortunately, the Gabcikovo hydroelectric barrage has reduced water levels sharply, thus badly affecting the ecology and wildlife of the region. If you want to explore the area on horseback, there are lots of riding stables; one of the best, awarded the five horseshoe grade, is the Szelle Lovasudvar at Sérfenyő utca 99, in DUNASZIGET, 10km northeast of Mosonmagyaróvár (96/233-515 evenings or mobile 20/935-3223, www.szellelovasudvar.hu), which organizes a number of riding tours around the region. The minor road across the Szigetköz, running between Győr and Mosonmagyaróvár, is part of the international Danube cycle route and there’s plenty of accommodation along the way. In MECSÉR, 3km off the road, is the Dunaparti Panzió at Ady Endre utca 45 (96/213-386, www.dunaparti.hu; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), which also rents out kayaks, while a good place to eat is Pusztacsárda 1804 (Thurs & Fri 6–11pm, Sat & Sun noon–11pm), an enormous thatched barn of a place 2km south of the village near route 1. In HÉDERVÁR, about 5km north of Mecsér, you can try the Kék Apartman at Kossuth utca 13 (96/215-430, www.kek-apartman.hu; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), which rents out bikes, or, if you’ve got the money, the 300-year-old Kastely Hotel at Fő út 47 (96/213-433, www.hedervar.hu; €101/26,001Ft and over), which also has a very posh restaurant and a botanic garden. Close by, in LIPÓT, there’s the Holt-Duna Camping at Holt-Duna út 1 (96/555-513; May–Sept); the Sari Vendégház, near the hot baths at Rákóczi utca 18 (96/720-620, www.sarivendeghaz.hu; €16–25/4001–6500Ft); and the modern Wellness Orchidea spa hotel at Rákóczi utca 42 (96/674-042, www.orchideahotel.hu; €86–100/22,501–26,000Ft). Up near the Slovak border in DUNAKILITI the Princess Palace Hotel at Kossuth utca 117 (96/671-071; www.princesspalace.hu; €101/26,001Ft and over) is a brand-new French-style château complete with golf course; and the Szigetköz Wellness Hotel (96/671-470, www.szigetkozhotel.hu; €71–85/18,501–22,500Ft) is a new health resort. There’s also the Vizpart Camping (96/224-579) in Dunakiliti. Fishing enthusiasts can obtain angling licences from Tourinform in Mosonmagyaróvár (see Practicalities).
Mosonmagyaróvár and around
MOSONMAGYARÓVÁR, 39km northwest of Győr, is a fusion of two settlements near the confluence of the Mosoni-Duna branch of the Danube and the Lajta River. While Moson is utterly prosaic, dominated by Highway 1, running through its middle, Magyaróvár – where you’ll find the restaurants and hotels – is a pleasant, fairly touristy, old town with a picturesque castle and bridges. Both are visibly prosperous, thanks in the main to all the Austrians who come here to shop or for inexpensive medical care – there are well over one hundred dentists in town. The best time to visit is late autumn, when the crowds have thinned and the first pressing of grapes takes place at local vineyards.
The chief attraction is Óvár Castle (usually open; free) at the north end of the town (follow the signposts for Bratislava). Founded in the thirteenth century to guard the western gateway to Hungary, it gave the town its medieval name, Porta Hungarica. Much remodelled over the years, since 1818 it has housed an Agricultural Institute, now a faculty of the University of Western Hungary; the small main building contains small exhibitions on the fauna of the Hanság region and on the poet Nikolaus Lenau, a student here in 1822–23 (Mon–Fri 9am–noon & 1–2pm; free). You can also see a chapel built in 1712 as a plague memorial, and the Secession-style university buildings, dating from 1912, and go up onto the gatehouse battlements.
The cobbled streets running down through the town are worth exploring, even if they have been strongly kitschified for the crowds of Austrian tourists. The church of St Gotthard, rebuilt in 1777 in Baroque style, shelters the remains of Archduke Frederick Habsburg, supreme commander of the Austro-Hungarian armies in World War I. From here it’s a short step west to Fő utca, the main road running round the west side of the old town of Magyaróvár, where the Cselley Ház at no. 19 is one of the town’s oldest buildings, dating in part from the fourteenth century. It’s notable for its stone-framed windows, wrought-iron window grilles, and its panelled ceilings on the first floor. It houses the Gyurkovich Collection of Famous Hungarian Paintings (Gyurkovich Gyűtemény; Tues–Sun: May–Sept 10am–6pm; Oct–April 10am–2pm; 600Ft), donated by an art-loving doctor and including works by some of the big names in Hungarian art such as Mihály Munkácsy. There’s a Roman sarcophagus in front of the building and similar stonework in the basement. Following Fő út on down for ten minutes to the junction with Kossuth utca, you come to the Hanság Museum at Szent István Királyút 1 (Hansági Múzeum; Tues–Sun: May–Sept 10am–6pm; Oct–April 2–6pm; 600Ft), with its Neoclassical porticos, which is one of the oldest provincial collections in Hungary. There are some worthy exhibits on show, such as Roman and Celtic grave goods, Hussars’ uniforms, furniture from a peasant household, and documents pertaining to the events of October 26, 1956, when one hundred demonstrators were shot dead by secret police in front of the town’s barracks. The town’s thermal baths are in Magyaróvár at Kolbai utca 10 (daily 8am–7pm; 1200Ft).
Into Slovakia and Austria
Mosonmagyaróvár is the last stop before two major border crossings. Rajka, 19km north, handles traffic bound for the Slovak capital of Bratislava, 15km away, while Hegyeshalom is the main road and rail crossing into Austria, from where it’s 45km to Vienna. While the latter used to be famous for its queues of Ladas and Trabants carrying families of Hungarians to the hypermarkets on the Austrian side, passport controls have now been abolished and traffic now moves quickly in both directions. Although there is no longer any need for trains to stop at Hegyeshalom for passport checks or to change locomotives, they still halt to switch drivers, although this will ultimately end when the same modern signalling system is installed in both countries. Trains from Vienna to Budapest do not call at Mosonmagyaróvár, but there’s a direct train every two hours from Vienna’s Sudbahnhof as far as Győr.
Practicalities
The bus and train stations are located in the south of Moson on Hild tér; buses #1, #2, #5 and #6 run along Szent István Király út, past Tourinform at Kápolna tér 16 (mid-June to mid-Sept Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat & Sun 9am–5pm; mid-Sept to mid-June Mon–Fri 9am–4pm; 96/206-304, www.mosonmagyarovar.hu), and then into Magyaróvár, 1.5km further on.
Most of the town’s hotels are located in Magyaróvár, the best being the Hotel Thermal, part of the thermal baths complex at Kolbai utca 10 (96/206-871, www.thermal-movar.hu; €71–85/18,501–22,500Ft), which has bikes for rent; and the Solaris Hotel, in a quiet, leafy road at Lucsony utca 19 (96/215-300, www.hotels.hu/solaris; €36–45/9001–11,500Ft). There are private rooms to let nearby on Kigyó utca. In Moson the best place is the hospitable Hotel Corvina, 500m north of Tourinform at Mosonyi Mihály utca 2 (96/218-131, www.corvinahotel.hu; €36–45/9001–11,500Ft), which has bright, airy rooms; there’s also the Motel NET.T at Kölcsey út 4 (96/576-796, motelnett@axelero.hu; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), just northwest of the station on Highway 86, which is simple but adequate, with a 24-hour restaurant. There’s camping space at the Termál Hotel Aqua at Kigyó utca 1 (96/579-168, www.tha.hu), and at the crowded Kis-Duna site, 2.5km east from the train station at Gabona rakpart 6 (96/216-443, www.hotels.hu/kis_duna; May–Oct), which also has a motel (€16–25/4001–6500Ft). Those with transport may prefer Vizpart Camping in Dunakiliti, 12km north near the Danube.
Of the several brazenly tourist-oriented restaurants spilling out onto Magyar utca in Magyaróvár, the Magyaros Vendéglő at no. 3 is the best. Just south at Szent Laszló tér 4, the Borclub Étterem és Vinotéka has a pleasant terrace and serves a good range of Hungarian wines by the glass.
Western Transdanubia
Western Transdanubia, part of the region bordering Austria and Slovenia, has a sub-Alpine topography and climate, ideal for wine growing and outdoor pursuits. Its Baroque towns and historic castles evince centuries of Habsburg influence and doughty resistance against the Turks, and the region’s proximity to Austria has given it a wealthier and more developed status than any other part of Hungary. The beautiful town of Sopron, with its magnificent Belváros, makes an ideal place to start, with several enjoyable attractions nearby: the Esterházy Palace at Fertőd, the Széchenyi Mansion at Nagycenk and the Fertő-Hanság National Park – excellent cycling country. Heading south, Kőszeg is one of the prettiest towns in Hungary, whilst larger Szombathely has plenty to show for its Roman past. It is also a good base from which to explore the castle at Sárvár or the picturesque Őrség region, where village tourism is thriving.
The following north–south itinerary is possible by public transport, since Sopron is easily accessible by express trains and buses from Budapest, Győr or Vienna, whereas other places are easier to reach using local services. Starting from Balaton, however, it’s easier to work your way north via Szombathely or Zalaegerszeg (in which case, you should backtrack through the following sections).
Sopron
With its 115 monuments and 240 listed buildings, SOPRON, tucked away in the far northwestern corner of the country, 79km west of Győr, can justly claim to be “the most historic town in Hungary”, as well as one of the most attractive. Never having been ravaged by Mongols or Turks, the inner town retains its medieval layout, with a melange of Gothic and Baroque that rivals the Várhegy in Budapest – but with even fewer cars on the streets. Founded as Roman Scarbantia, it was a walled town by the early fourth century and became a major stage on the Amber Road, the trade route from the Baltic to the Adriatic. Wine has been made here since the twelfth century, although red varieties took over only in the nineteenth century, introduced by German-speaking settlers who would only take payment from Napoleon’s soldiers in the safer blue notes, hence the name Kékfrankos or French Blue for the main local grape.
Sopron is also the base for excursions to the Esterházy Palace and the vintage steam train at Nagycenk amongst others. Its proximity to Vienna means that Austrians have long come here to shop, eat out and get their teeth fixed – there are Zahnartz (dentist) signs everywhere in Ödenburg, as they call Sopron. While the local economy benefits, visitors will find that prices are almost at Budapest levels and accommodation can be in short supply in the high season. Be warned that some museums are closed from October until March.
Franz Liszt is seen to a certain extent as a local boy, although his birthplace in Raiding is now across the border in Austria; his first public concert, at the age of 9, was given in the casino, where the Liszt Cultural Centre now stands.
Arrival and information
From Sopron’s train station, it’s just 500m up Mátyás király utca to Széchenyi tér, on the southern edge of the Belváros. International tickets, for the hourly GySEV trains leaving to Vienna, are sold next to the taxi desk in the main hall. Arriving by bus, it’s five minutes’ walk along Lackner Kristóf utca to Ógabona tér, on the northwest side of the Várkerület that surrounds the Belváros. Many buses towards Fertőd, Nagycenk, Szombathely and Sárvár also stop at Csengery utca 52, near the train station, while those arriving in Sopron drop passengers off across the road.
Information is provided by Tourinform, inside the Liszt Cultural Centre at Liszt utca 1 (mid-June to mid-Sept Mon–Fri 9am–7pm, Sat & Sun 9am–6pm; mid-Sept to mid-June Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat & Sun 9am–3pm; 99/517-560, www.tourinform.sopron.hu). If you’re in the mood to visit several museums in one day then purchase a museum pass (felonőtteknek; 2400Ft), available from the Firewatch Tower, which allows entry into all museums. The post office is at Széchenyi tér 7–10 (Mon–Fri 8am–7pm, Sat 8am–noon) and there’s internet access at Szintézis Sopron, Balfi utca 3 (Mon–Fri 7.30am–9.30pm, Sat 9am–9.30pm), and the Teaház es Kávézó, Széchenyi tér 16 (Mon–Fri 9am–10pm, Sat & Sun 10am–10pm).
Accommodation
There’s a decent choice of accommodation in town, though you should book ahead in summer. During July and August dormitory beds are available at the Középiskolai Fiu Kollégium at Erzsébet utca 9 (99/311-260) and the Hetvényi Leány Kollégium at Mátyás király utca 21 (99/320-211), both just down from Széchenyi tér, or at the Nyugati-Magyarországi Egyetem at Ady Endre utca 5 and also at Baross utca 4 (99/518-194, sekoll@sek.nyme.hu), ten minutes’ walk southwest of the centre.
Hotels and pensions
Bástya Panzió Patak utca 40 99/325-325, www.bastya-panzio.hu. Large pension with neat, compact rooms and shiny clean bathrooms, just west of Sas tér – from the bus station go straight up Patak utca. €46–55/11,501–14,500Ft
Jégverem Fogadó Jégverem utca 1 99/510-113, www.jegverem.hu. Just uphill from the Belváros, this converted eighteenth-century inn is named after the old ice pit in the middle of its restaurant. Very popular, with just five rooms, so essential to reserve. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Hotel Lővér Várisi utca 4 99/888-400, www.danubiushotels.com/lover. Peaceful, secluded hotel on the fringes of the Lővérek Hills, a 20min walk from the city centre (bus #1 or #2). Well-appointed rooms and good facilities, including a pool and tennis courts. €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft
Hotel Palatinus Uj utca 23 99/523-816, www.palatinussopron.com. A fine and very central new hotel, although the rooms are surprisingly bland. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Pannonia-Med Hotel Várkerület 75 99/312-180, www.pannoniahotel.com. A lovely old building with a splendid foyer, wrought-iron balconies and comfortable rooms with fluffed-up pillows and fancy towels. A Best Western but you wouldn’t know it. Underground car park, pool, sauna and gymnasium are just some of the facilities. €71–100/22,501–26,000Ft
Hotel Sopron Fövényverem utca 7 99/512-261, www.hotelsopron.hu. Up on Koronázó-domb (Coronation Hill) just north of the Belváros, with a mix of very ordinary 1970s rooms and newer, more stylish ones, some with terrific views of the old town. Facilities include sauna, solarium, tennis courts and parking. €71–100/22,501–26,000Ft
Wieden Panzió Sas tér 13 99/523-222, www.wieden.hu. Across from the Jégverem, this pension has various sized, but rather staid, doubles. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Hotel Wollner Templom utca 20 99/524-400, www.wollner.hu. In a 300-year-old building in the heart of the Belváros, this outstanding hotel oozes class. Gorgeous rooms come with minibar, oak bureaus and large, handsome beds, and the hotel also boasts a beautiful inner courtyard and hanging garden, and a superb restaurant and wine cellar. €71–85/18,501–22,500Ft
Campsite and hostels
Brennbergi Youth Hostel Brennbergi utca 99/313-116, www.tabor.sopron.hu. Open all year; 4km west of the city centre (bus #3 or #10 from the bus station). Dorm beds 1950Ft.
Castrum Balfi Gyógykemping Fürdö sor 59, Balfi 99/339-124, castrum.sopron-balf@t-online.hu. Currently the closest campsite to Sopron, 8km east on the way to the Esterházy palace at Fertőd, this is open all year and also has rooms. €16–25/4001–6500Ft
Vakácio Youth Hostel Ady Endre utca 31 99/338-502, www.vakacio.info. On the corner of Löver utca, about 15min from Tourinform or the train station (bus #10 from the bus station or #10Y from the train station). A clean but functional backpackers’ hostel, with rooms ranging from twins (avoid the tiny no. 4 right behind reception) to 8/9-person bunk rooms. Microwave and fridge available. Dorm beds 3600Ft.
Around the Belváros
Compact and easily explored on foot, the Belváros holds most of the sights. Templom utca provides a direct route from Széchenyi tér to the heart of the Belváros, but you should take a detour along the first turning to the right, to admire Orsolya tér, in the centre of which is the now defunct Maria Fountain (Mária Kút), dating from 1780. This romantic-looking cobbled square takes its name from the Ursuline Church of the Virgin, rebuilt in 1864 and sandwiched between two neo-Gothic edifices dripping with loggias, one of which contains the Catholic Collection of Ecclesiastical Art (Katolikus Gyűjtemény; May–Oct Mon, Thurs & Sun 10am–4pm; 300Ft), consisting of vestments, goldsmithery and the like. The square was the site of the Salt Market in olden days, and animals were butchered under the arcades of the building at no. 5. Today, this houses a museum, with temporary displays only.
From Orsolya tér you can head north up Új utca (New Street), which is actually one of Sopron’s oldest thoroughfares. Its chunky cobblestoned pavements follow a gentle curve of arched dwellings painted in red, yellow and pink, with a view of the Firewatch Tower beyond. During the Middle Ages it was called Zsidó (Jewish) utca and housed a flourishing mercantile community, until they were accused of conspiring with the Turks and expelled in 1526, only returning to Sopron in the nineteenth century. At no. 22, a tiny medieval synagogue (Ó-Zsinagóga; May–Oct Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 750Ft) stands diagonally opposite a slightly newer one, at no. 11, now hidden by a Baroque facade. At the end of the street you emerge onto Fő tér.
Fő tér
The focal point of Fő tér is the cherubim-covered Holy Trinity Statue, which local Protestants took as an affront when it was erected in 1700 by Cardinal Kollonich, who threatened: “First I will make the Hungarians slaves, then I will make them beggars, and then I will make them Catholics.” Behind it stands the triple-aisled Goat Church (Kecsketemplom; Mon–Sat 8am–6pm, summer 7am–9pm), built for the Franciscans in about 1280, where three monarchs were later crowned and seven parliaments were convened. Its curious name stems from the legend that the church’s construction was financed by a goatherd whose flock unearthed a cache of loot – in gratitude for which an angel embraces a goat on a pillar. Although there are some Baroque features, it remains one of the outstanding examples of Hungarian Gothic architecture.
Before crossing the square to visit the mansions on its northern side, check out the Pharmacy Museum at no. 2 (Patikamúzeum; Tues–Sun: April–Sept 10am–6pm; Oct–March 10am–2pm; 450Ft), which preserves the seventeenth-century Angel apothecary’s shop. Though remodelled since then, its Biedermeier-style walnut furnishings and artefacts from the Dark Ages of pharmacology certainly deserve a look.
Directly opposite the church stands the Fabricius House at no. 6, which unites a Baroque mansion on Roman foundations with a fifteenth-century patrician’s house. It contains three small museums (all Tues–Sun: April–Sept 10am–6pm; Oct–March 10am–2pm; 900Ft each): the Archeological Museum (Régészeti Gyűjtemény és Kiállítás) displays finds from the Amber Road, notably the Iron Age Sun Disk and the 1200-year-old Cunpald Goblet, and is also noted for its “whispering gallery”; the Bourgeois Home (Polgári Lakások) shows the changes in interior design and furnishing between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; and the Lapidarium in the Gothic cellar includes three large Roman statues unearthed during the construction of the town hall. Next door at no. 7 is the Lackner House, named after the seventeenth-century mayor who bequeathed it to Sopron; his motto “Fiat Voluntas Tua” (“Thy will be done”) appears on the facade.
The Renaissance Storno House (Storno Gyűjtemény) at no. 8 has the finest pedigree, however. King Mátyás stayed here in 1482–83, as did Franz Liszt in 1840 and 1881. It is still owned by descendants of Ferenc Storno, painter, architect and master chimney sweep, who restored Pannonhalma and other medieval churches during the nineteenth century. The family’s private collection of furniture, Liszt memorabilia and Roman, Celtic and Avar relics is displayed in an enjoyably eccentric museum on the second floor (Tues–Sun: April–Sept 10am–6pm; Oct–March 10am–2pm; 1200Ft).
The Firewatch Tower
North of Fő tér rises Sopron’s symbol, the Firewatch Tower (Tűztorony; April–Oct Tues–Sun 10am–6pm, May–Aug till 8pm; early May to mid-Sept also open Mon; 900Ft), set atop the town wall built by the Romans, who established Scarbantia here during the first century AD. As its name suggests, the tower was erected after a great blaze in 1676 for fire-watchers, who also blew trumpets to signal the hours. Above a square thirteenth-century base rises a seventeenth-century cylinder with a Baroque balcony, offering a stunning view of Fő tér and the Belváros.
Abutting the south side of the tower is the Gate of Loyalty, built in honour of the townfolk’s decision to reject the offer of Austrian citizenship in 1921. The motif shows Hungaria surrounded by kneeling citizens, and Sopron’s coat of arms, which henceforth included the title “Civitas Fidelissima” (“the most loyal citizenry”). Walking through the gate and under the Firewatch Tower, you’ll emerge onto Előkapu (Outer Gate) utca, where the houses are staggered for defensive purposes, and “errant burghers” and “gossiping, nagging” wives were once pinioned in stocks for the righteous to pelt with rotten food. The Várfal promenade (Mon–Fri 9am–8pm, Sat & Sun 9am–6pm) is a passage that leads off to the left beside the city walls, dodging around the back of houses and emerging on the ring road outside the walls.
At the end of Előkapu you can cross Várkerület to examine the colourfully tiled facade of the Golden Lion Pharmacy at no. 29, or head to the right along the boulevard to view a bastion of the medieval town walls. Alternatively, cut through to the east side of the Town Hall to see the remains of the Castrum, where the medieval city walls were built (after becoming a free royal town in 1277) on the remains of the Roman town walls; some Roman foundations are visible plus a stretch of street leading to the second-century Forum, under the present city hall.
Templom utca
Templom utca, a picturesque street of Baroque facades, heads south from Fő tér. Standing just around the corner from the Goat Church on Fő tér is the square’s finest sight, a fourteenth-century chapterhouse (Káptalanterem; May–Oct daily 10am–noon & 2–5pm, with tours on the hour Mon–Fri; free) behind the Baroque facade of no. 1, whose Gothic pillars and vaults are decorated with images of the seven deadly sins and the symbols of the Evangelists.
On the opposite side of the road, at nos. 2–4, a Baroque mansion built by the Esterházy family now houses two museums of fairly specialized interest. The Central Museum of Mining (Központi Bányászati Múzeum; Tues–Sun: April–Oct 10am–6pm; Nov–March 10am–4pm; 600Ft) has some curious artefacts from the Brennberg pits in Sopron’s western suburbs, the oldest coal mines in Hungary. The adjacent door leads to the Museum of Forestry (Erdészeti Gyűjtemény; daily except Wed; May–Oct 1–6pm; Nov–April 10am–1pm; 300Ft), although you’d have to be a real die-hard to appreciate the vast collection of tools and instruments. The mansion is also notable as Haydn often stayed here, while in 1840 Liszt slept next door at no. 6.
At no. 19 a building erected around 1400 and remodelled in the 1760s contains the Lutheran History Museum (Országos Evangélikus Múzeum; mid-April to mid-Oct Wed–Fri 2–5pm, Sat & Sun 10.30am–1pm & 2–5pm; 150Ft), which explains how all the Evangelical churches were confiscated in 1674, obliging Lutherans to worship at home until the authorities relented. The adjacent Lutheran Church dates from 1782, but only acquired its tall neo-Romanesque bell-tower eighty years later, due to restrictions on the faith decreed by Emperor Josef II. On the other side, the profusely ornamented Töpler House at no. 22 is named after a physician who devoted his life to fighting epidemics, while the courtyard of no. 15 contains a neo-Renaissance loggia.
Beyond the Belváros
While the Belváros is spectacular, there is more to see as you move out of the centre, with art and architecture to the north, a folly to the west, and beautiful countryside to the south.
Ikva híd, crossing a narrow stream which used to flood noxiously in the nineteenth century, points towards some more sights. Off to the right at Balfi utca 11 is the private Zettl-Langer Collection (April–Oct Tues–Sun 10am–noon; Nov–Jan & March Fri–Sun 10am–noon; 450Ft) of porcelain, earthenware and weaponry, assembled by nineteenth-century businessman and sometime painter Gusztáv Zettl. His descendants still live here and will give you a guided tour through the collection.
A five-minute walk up Dorfmeister and Szent Mihály utca from Ikva híd takes you past the House of the Two Moors (so-called after the statues flanking its gate) on your left at Szent Mihály utca 9, to the Gothic Church of St Michael further uphill, whose gargoyles leer over a decaying thirteenth-century Chapel of St Jacob. Nearby stand the tombstones of Soviet soldiers killed liberating Sopron from the Arrow Cross puppet government, which massacred hundreds of hostages before fleeing in April 1945 with the Coronation Regalia (which was handed over to the US Army for safekeeping and held in Fort Knox until Jimmy Carter returned it to Hungary in 1978).
The Fool’s Castle
In the southwestern garden suburbs, 3km from the centre, at Csalogány köz 28, lurks a bizarre “Fool’s Castle” (Taródi-vár; 300Ft), built by local eccentric Istvan Taród in the 1950s. The castle’s cold, dark rooms are crammed with a ramshackle assortment of paintings, furniture and other curios, including a couple of rusting motorbikes, while up on the roof you can view the crumbling stone turrets and pillars, and the not-so-distant Lővérek Hills. Whilst it can’t compare to the extravagant Bory Castle in Székesfehérvár, it’s nonetheless an oddly enjoyable place to wander around. It’s still inhabited by Taród’s descendants, and though there are no set opening hours, you can usually gain admission whenever someone’s at home. To get here, take bus #1 from Széchenyi tér, which drops you near the covered pool (Fedett Uzsoda) in the Löver suburb, walk 50m back, turn left up Fegyves Sor, another left up Harsfa Sor, and then follow the road round.
The Lővérek Hills and the Burgenland
A kilometre or so further south of the castle are the sub-Alpine Lővérek Hills, a standing invitation to hikers. Bus #1 or #2 will drop you at the Hotel Lővér near the start of the path up to the Károly lookout tower (Károlymagaslati Kilátő; daily: May–Aug 9am–8pm; April, Sept & Oct 9am–7pm; March 9am–5pm; Nov–Feb 9am–4pm; 300Ft), which offers marvellous views of the surrounding countryside. Several hiking trails continue through the rolling forests to the west, and it’s even possible to hike into Austria. Both sides of the border are inhabited by bilingual folk engaged in viticulture, following the division of the Burgenland region between Hungary and Austria (which got the lion’s share) after the collapse of the Habsburg empire – an amicable partition, it seems, since nobody complains about it today.
Eating and drinking
Given the town’s popularity, the range of places to eat and drink is somewhat disappointing, though wine buffs can choose from several good cellars.
Restaurants
Erhardt et Vinum Étterem Borpince Balfi utca 10. An attractive new restaurant in a Baroque house with tasteful modern lighting, plus a winebar in the courtyard; Hungarian cuisine, with game and vegetarian dishes.
Fórum Pizzeria Szent György utca 3. Enjoyable pizzeria also offering spaghetti, lasagne, Mexican dishes and a salad bar. Despite the waiters being overworked, the service is excellent.
Jégverem Fogadó Jégverem utca 1. Mammoth portions of fine homestyle cooking in this popular, frenetic restaurant inside the pension of the same name, and in the courtyard. The menu is adventurous, but service is slow and with an open kitchen it can get a bit stuffy.
Rókalyukhoz Várkerület 112. A fairly prodigious pizza menu awaits at this informal restaurant/pub. Head downstairs for a more intimate dining experience.
Tercia Serház Liszt Ferenc utca 1. Large, modern and pleasantly informal basement restaurant under the Cultural Centre, offering a very reasonably priced and colourful menu, including stews, dumplings, lamb, fish, and, for the more adventurous, baked brain.
Várkerület Söröző Várkerület 83. Fairly basic place opposite the Rókalyukhoz, serving Hungarian cuisine and grilled meats, with a buzzing bar and beer garden at the rear.
Wollner Templom utca 20. You’re guaranteed an exquisite dining experience in the Hotel Wollner’s distinguished restaurant. Expensive – but first-class – helpings of Hungarian and international cuisine.
Cafés, bars and cellars
The two best cafés in town are the Liszt Szalon Café (and chocolate shop), a classy, relaxing place with a lovely courtyard in the heart of the Belváros at Szent György utca 12, and the cosy Demmer’s Teaház és Kávézó at Széchenyi tér 16, offering a complete range of teas alongside some delicious strudels and roulades. The sociable Hungariá Kaveház in the Liszt Cultural Centre has the best summer terrace.
Drinkers in search of the fine local Soproni beer should head for Rókalyukhoz or the Western-themed Papa Joe’s, a few paces along at Várkerület 108. Hearty red Kékfrankos and white, apple-flavoured Tramini can be sampled in wine cellars such as the Cezár Pince at Hátsókapu utca 2, which boasts vintage oak butts and leather-aproned waiters and also serves meat platters; or the less refined Gyógygödör Borozó at Fő tér 4. There’s also good wine tasting to be had in the more formal surrounds of the Hotel Wollner’s cellar.
Festivals
Sopron is at its liveliest during the Spring Days (late March) and Festival Weeks (mid-June to mid-July), when all manner of concerts and plays are staged at the Petőfi Theatre on Petőfi tér, the Liszt Cultural Centre on Széchenyi tér, and many other venues in the region. You can get details from Tourinform and tickets from the festival office, in the same building (Tues–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 9am–noon; 99/511-730, www.prokultura.hu). In mid-October the town hosts a festival to celebrate the Grape Harvest, with wine tasting, folk dancing and music.
Around Sopron
There are several attractions around Sopron worth visiting. East of town is the lovely Fertő-Hanság National Park, to the north of which is Fertőrákos, whose old quarry is a splendid venue for summertime concerts. Travelling eastwards will bring you to the village of Nagycenk, with its own stately home and a popular steam railway, and then to the magnificent, but slowly decaying, Esterházy Palace in Fertőd. There are buses every thirty to sixty minutes (every 1hr 30min–2hr to Lake Fertő) to the following places from the bus station in Sopron. Trains are less frequent and call at rather less convenient stations at Nagycenk and Fertőd, but may be useful for onward connections.
The Fertő-Hanság National Park
Fifteen kilometres east of Sopron lies the Fertő-Hanság National Park, a once extensive swampland that has gradually been drained and brought under cultivation since the eighteenth century. Prone to thick fogs, the area is traditionally associated with tales of elves and water sprites, and with the dynastic seats of the Esterházy and Széchenyi families at Fertőd and Nagycenk. The most obvious feature on the map is the shallow, reedy expanse of Lake Fertő, known to Hungarians as Fertő-to and to Austrians as the Neusiedler See, which was out of bounds under Communism to prevent escapes. This allowed wildlife, especially birds, to flourish, and the area is now being developed as a nature reserve and resort, noted for its wild beauty; it was added to Unesco’s World Heritage List in 2001. The lake makes especially good cycling country, having a 110-kilometre-long cycle track all the way around it (35km of which is in Hungary), with campsites en route and Zimmer frei signs in most of the villages. This route heads north via Fertőrákos and enters Austria by a cycle/pedestrians-only border crossing (April–Oct daily 6am–10pm). Heading east, this also forms a route from Sopron to Fertőd, which is highly recommended; it’s just a short detour into Sarród (just west of Fertőd) to see the informative displays at the National Park headquarters at Rév-Kócsagvár 4.
Fertőrákos Quarry
On the fringes of the park, 8km north of Sopron (past the country’s biggest and highest-security prison), the village of FERTŐRÁKOS translates as “infectious slough”, due to the fetid lake that once lapped at its edges. Nowadays the waters are healthy and the village (Kroisbach in German) is clean and welcoming. Limestone has been hewn since Roman times from the episcopal quarry (Kőfejtő; daily: March–April 8am–5pm; May–Sept 8am–7pm; Oct 8am–5pm; Nov, Dec & Feb 8am–4pm; 375Ft) at the top of the main road, Fő utca, that runs down through the village. Vienna’s St Stephen’s Cathedral and Ringstrasse were built with stone from Fertőrákos, where quarrying only ceased in 1945. The result is a Cyclopean labyrinth of gigantic chambers and oddly skewed pillars, resembling the mythical cities imagined by H.P. Lovecraft; animal and plant fossils attest that the land was once submerged beneath a prehistoric sea.
To the right as you enter, a path leads up to a monument to the Paneuropean picnic and loops around the quarry to a viewpoint from where you can head for the exit (and restaurant) or go back and down into the caves, which are a bit chilly but not at all smelly. It would make sense to combine your visit to the quarry with one of the concerts staged in the Cave Theatre, carved out in 1970 and holding some 750 people. The majority of concerts take place during the Sopron Festival Weeks (tickets available from the Sopron festival office).
Everything in the village is situated on the very long Fő utca – buses stop outside the quarry and elsewhere along this main street. A five-minute walk downhill from the quarry brings you to the Mineral Museum at no. 99 (Ásványmúzeum; April–Oct Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; June–Aug to 7pm; Nov–March call 99/355-286; 370Ft), exhibiting all manner of rocks and stones hewn from the quarry and elsewhere in Hungary. In front of the town hall at no. 139 is the only sixteenth-century pillory still in place in the country, followed by the former Bishop’s Palace (Püspöki kastély; guided visits May–Oct daily except Tues 10am–6pm; Nov–April Sat & Sun 10am–3pm; 370Ft) at no. 153, which dates back in parts to the Middle Ages, although its current Baroque appearance is due to three bishops of Győr (Sopron being at the time a Lutheran city) who rebuilt it between the mid-seventeenth and the mid-eighteenth centuries – their crests are placed above the central three first-floor windows. Restoration is under way, and there are plans to create a local history museum here; for now, the cellar and some first-floor rooms are open, and the caretaker is a very engaging multilingual guide. The highlight is the chapel, used as a store for agricultural chemicals for four decades but still in remarkably good shape; there are fine frescoes here and elsewhere, including the Seven Arts and the Rest on the Flight into Egypt.
Boat trips on the lake are offered by Fert-Tavi Hajózási, at Hajókikötő 1 in Fertőrákos (mid-April to mid-Oct; 99/355-165, seffer@freemail.hu) and by Drescher Hajózási at Kitaibel Pál utca 32A in Sopron (April–Oct; 99/355-361, csefan@axelero.hu). Cycle and canoe tours, in search of flora and fauna, can be arranged through Na-Túra at Fő utca 91 (99/355-718, www.na-tura.hu).
There’s stacks of accommodation in the village, including dozens of households advertising private rooms. The best of the guesthouses are the flower-decked Szentesi Panzió at Fő utca 66 (99/355-238, www.szentesipanzio.hu; €26–35/6501–9000Ft); the cosy Horváth Ház Panzió (99/355-368, www.horvathhazpanzio.hu; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), in an old peasant dwelling at Fő utca 194; and the four-room Várfal Panzió, further down the road at no. 222 (99/355-115, www.varfal-schlosser.hu; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), with neat little rooms and charming hospitality; this is also the home of the Fertőrákos Hospitality Association, which organizes a village festival on July 18 (www.fertorakos-vendegvaro.hu), and a World Heritage List infopoint. The Ráspirestaurant at Fő utca 78 is renowned for its Hungarian dishes and wine, whilst the interior, with its thick wooden beams and benches, and candle-topped tables, is a delight – the owners also rent out bikes (150Ft per hr, 900Ft per day).
To the north of the village, just short of the pedestrian- and cycle-only border crossing, is the Cave of Mithras (Mithras-barlang; May–Aug Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; 900Ft), where Roman soldiers worshipped the Persian Sun God. This was believed to have been destroyed in World War I but has been carefully reconstructed, with a Baroque-style shelter over the mouth of a cave in which a mural portrays Mithras killing the bull, symbol of darkness and evil.
The Paneuropean picnic
In November 1988 the Hungarian Communist Party’s lacklustre leadership was swept aside by the new generation of reformers. The process of removing the electronic alarm system along the Hungarian-Austrian border began in May 1989, and on June 27 the Austrian and Hungarian Foreign Ministers symbolically cut the “Iron Curtain”. However, Hungary was still bound by the Warsaw Pact to prevent East Germans in particular from reaching the West.
Activists in Hungary came up with the idea of a demonstration in the form of a picnic, with groups meeting on either side of the border fence. Then permission was given for a border crossing north of Sopron, closed since 1948, to be reopened for three hours on the afternoon of August 19, to allow a Hungarian delegation to walk to the Austrian village of St Margarethen (Szentmargitbánya) and be received by the mayor and accompanying oompah band.
In the event, between 10,000 and 20,000 people turned up, and before the delegation – delayed by an overrunning press conference – could reach the border, several hundred East Germans, who had been issued with West German passports in Budapest, rushed across. Over the next few days many more fled to the West, before the Hungarian guards stopped the exodus; nevertheless, on September 11 the border was permanently opened to East German citizens and the collapse of the DDR, and of the Berlin Wall, became inevitable. Clearly the picnic itself did not bring this about, but it’s still seen as a highly symbolic event, and is commemorated on August 19 every year.
The Széchenyi Mansion and Railway
One of the region’s major feudal seats lies on the southern fringe of Fertő-Hanság National Park in the village of NAGYCENK (pronounced Nodge-senk). Frequent buses from Sopron can drop you at the Széchenyi Mansion (Széchenyi Emlékmúzeum) 800m northeast of the village on Route 85 (the Győr road); there are almost as many buses on Route 84 (the Sárvár road) which will drop you in the village, from where it’s a ten-minute walk to the mansion.
Trains on the Sopron-Szombathely line stop on the west side of the village; follow the road for ten minutes, to the square in front of the church, where you should turn left and then right on Vám utca, from where the mansion is signposted. As the family home of Count Széchenyi, “the greatest Hungarian”, it has never been allowed to fall into ruin, and was declared a museum in 1973. The first part of the museum (Tues–Sun: mid-March to Oct 10am–6pm; Nov to mid-March 10am–2pm; 1050Ft) includes portraits, personal effects and furniture from his household – the first in Hungary to be lit by gas lamps and to have flush toilets – and details his many achievements. There’s useful guidance in the form of a button on the wall of each room which, when pressed, gives a short spiel about the contents – though it can get rather chaotic when several people are all vying to hear one of the six different languages available. Upstairs, the museum proceeds to document the development of Hungarian industry since Széchenyi’s day, with Hungarian and German texts and particular emphasis on transportation and communications.
Adjoining the mansion is a 200-year-old Stud Farm (Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; 300Ft), which houses an exhibition of carriages, saddles and other equipment – or you can just wander around the yard and admire the magnificent horses. Széchenyi and his brother both saw horsebreeding, and English-style racing, as crucial for the improvement of Hungarian agriculture and transport, and both established studs. If you’d rather go for a walk, head north through the mansion’s front garden and across Route 85 to find a lovely (if heavily pollarded) avenue of limes, planted in the mid-eighteenth century, that’s now a nature conservation area. At the far end of the three-kilometre-long avenue are the remains of a Gothic cell once inhabited by the “Nagycenk Hermit”, whom the Széchenyis employed to pump the church organ on Sundays, and the tomb of István Széchenyi’s son Béla, himself a noted biologist and traveller.
Also north of the highway, just to the left of the avenue, is a shining example of Hungary’s heritage industry – the Széchenyi Railway. This outdoor museum of vintage steam trains (Múzeum Vasút) is always open, but comes alive every weekend from early April to early October, when hundred-year-old engines run five times a day along a narrow-gauge line (specially built in the 1970s), past fields full of stooks of drying reeds, to terminate at Fertőboz, 4km away on the Győr-Sopron railway, though some turn back earlier. Tickets (600Ft) can only be bought on site, so you’ll just have to turn up and hope for the best. Bicycles are carried for an additional 150Ft each way.
Where the road to the station leaves the village stands the neo-Romanesque Church of St Stephen, designed by Ybl in 1864. Its portal bears the Széchenyi motto “If God is with us, who can be against us?” In the cemetery across the road from the church stands the Széchenyi Mausoleum (May–Oct Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; 300Ft), with a chapel decorated by István Dorfmeister, and a crypt including the graves of István Széchenyi and his wife.
The best place to stay is naturally the grand Kastély Hotel (99/360-061, www.szechenyikastelyszallo.hu; €86–100/22,501–26,000Ft) in the mansion’s west wing; its restaurant is also excellent. In the village, the Classic Étterem & Panzió, by the main bus stop at Soproni út 2 (99/360-345, www.classicnagycenk.hu; €36–45/9001–11,500Ft), has attractive modern rooms and a restaurant with a long menu including game and vegetarian dishes, plus a nice wine list. The Vakacio Guest Hostel at Rákóczi utca 9 (99/338-502, www.vakacio-vendeghazak.hu; 3600Ft each), a block west of Route 84 north of the centre, is a branch of the Vakacio hostel in Sopron, with rooms for between two and nine people, and a guest kitchen. In addition, private rooms (€16–25/4001–6500Ft) are advertised widely around the village.
Count Széchenyi
Count István Széchenyi (1791–1860) was the outstanding figure of Hungary’s Reform Era. As a young aide-de-camp who had fought at Győr and Leipzig he cut a dash at the Congress of Vienna and did the rounds of stately homes across Europe. The “odious Zoltán Karpathy” of Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion (and the musical My Fair Lady) was based on his exploits in England, where he steeplechased hell for leather, but still found time to examine factories and steam trains. Back in Hungary, he pondered solutions to his homeland’s backwardness and donated a year’s income from his estates to establish the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. He published Hitel (Credit), a hard-headed critique of the nation’s feudal society in 1830, and was appointed by the government to develop Hungary’s transport infrastructure, regulating the rivers (giving a 25-percent increase in cultivable land), introducing steamships on the Danube and Lake Balaton, and working to link the Baltic to the Mediterranean by rail via Budapest.
Though politically conservative, Széchenyi was obsessed with modernization. A passionate convert to steam power after riding on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway, he invited Britons to Hungary to build rail lines and Budapest’s Chain Bridge. He also promoted horsebreeding and silk-making, and initiated the taming of the River Tisza and the blasting of a road through the Iron Gates of the Danube. Although previously opposed to Kossuth, in 1848 he lost his fear of revolution and took the transport portfolio in Hungary’s first independent government.
Alas, his achievements were rewarded by a melancholy end. The failure of the 1848 Revolution triggered a nervous breakdown, and, although Széchenyi resumed writing after his health improved, harassment by the political police led him to commit suicide. His funeral became a patriotic demonstration and a protest against despotism.
Fertőd and the Esterházy Palace
The village of FERTŐD, some 15km beyond Nagycenk and 25km east of Sopron, began life as an appendage to the palace and was known as “Esterháza” until the family decamped in 1945. As you enter the village, postwar housing gives way to stately public buildings endowed by the Esterházys, presaging the palace at the eastern end – which is impossible to miss so long as you stay on the main street.
The Esterházy Palace
Built on malarial swampland drained by hundreds of serfs, the Esterházy Palace was intended to rival Versailles and remove any arriviste stigma from the dynasty (see The Esterházy family). Gala balls and concerts, hunting parties and masquerades were held here even before it was completed in 1776, continuing without a let-up until the death of Prince Miklós “the Ostentatious” in 1790. Neglected by his successor, who moved his court (and orchestra) back to Eisenstadt, the palace was left to decay. From 1900 Duke Miklós IV began to refurbish the house, while his wife did the same for the gardens, which more or less survived the Communist period as an experimental fruit farm. However, the mansion’s picture gallery, puppet theatre and Chinese pavilions disappeared, while its salons became storerooms and stables. Restoration only began in earnest in 1958, and is still unfinished due to the prodigious cost.
Ornate Rococo wrought-iron gates lead into a vast horseshoe courtyard where hussars once pranced to the music of Joseph Haydn, Esterházy’s resident maestro. The U-shaped wings and ceremonial stairway sweep up to a three-storey Baroque facade. Guided tours (every 40min; mid-March to Oct Tues–Sun 10am–6pm; Nov to mid-March Fri–Sun 10am–4pm; 1800Ft) cover 23 of the 126 rooms in the palace, whose faded splendour still speaks of its one-time magnificence. Tours are only in Hungarian, but you’ll be given a leaflet in English or another language of your choice. The highlights of the ground floor are the panelled and gilded Sala Terrena and several blue-and-white chinoiserie salons, their walls painted by fairly mediocre artists – unlike J.I. Mildorfer’s superb fresco on the ceiling of the Banqueting Hall upstairs, which is so contrived that Apollo’s chariot seems to be careering towards you across the sky whatever angle you view it from. There are more Mildorfer frescoes in the tiny oval chapel restored in 2001.
An adjacent room houses a Haydn exhibition, although this mainly consists of photocopied manuscripts and (identical) portraits. As the deputy Kapellmeister from 1761, and Kapellmeister proper from 1766, Haydn directed the palace orchestra, opera house and marionette theatre until 1790. Concerts are held here at weekends between late May and mid-September; tickets (6000Ft) can be purchased from the palace (99/537-640). The tour over, you can wander around the French Gardens or parterre at the back, with its “goosefoot” of three vistas through the forest to the south, and the English Garden on the west side of the mansion, although these can be visited free of charge anyway.
The Esterházy family
Originally of the minor nobility, the Esterházy family began its rise thanks to Miklós I (1583–1645), who married two rich widows and sided with the Habsburgs against Transylvania during the Counter-Reformation, for which he was rewarded with the title of count. His son Paul was content to make his mark by publishing a songbook, Harmonia Celestis; but Miklós II “the Ostentatious” (1714–90) celebrated his inheritance of 600,000 acres and a dukedom by commissioning the Fertőd palace in 1762. Boasting “anything the Kaiser can do, I can do better!”, he spent 40,000 gulden a year on pomp and entertainment. After his death the family moved to Eisenstadt, in present-day Austria, and became gradually less important in Hungary, until under the Communists they were expropriated and “un-personed”. Today, one descendant drives trams in Vienna, while two others (from a separate branch of the family) are respected figures back home: the writer Péter Esterházy and his cousin, Marton Esterházy, once centre forward for the national football team. Internationally, however, the best-known bearer of the family name is Joe Esterhasz, the Hollywood scriptwriter of Basic Instinct and Showgirls.
The family is remembered above all for patronizing many great musicians, most notably Joseph Haydn, who worked at Fertőd from 1761 to 1790 and claimed the isolation, so far from Vienna, “forced [him] to become original”. Franz Schubert spent the summers of 1818 and 1824 as music tutor with a minor branch of the family in Zseliz (now in Slovakia). Franz Liszt’s father was steward on the Esterházy estates and in 1805–08 played cello in the orchestra at Eisenstadt, directed on one occasion by Beethoven for the premiere of his Mass in C, while the son’s stellar career was made possible by Count Michael Esterházy and four other aristocrats funding his studies in Vienna.
Practicalities
The nearest train station is at Fertőszéplak-Fertőd, a thirty-minute walk from the mansion (turn right as you exit the station and follow Fő utca through the village of Fertőd), but this only sees six trains a day in each direction, on a branch line to Pamhagen and Neusiedl am See in Austria. To get here you will in any case have to change at Fertőszentmiklós station, on the main line to Győr, which has a more frequent service and could be ideal if you wanted to bring a bike and cycle back to Sopron (turn left from the station then head left/north up the road to the centre of Fertőd, or turn right at the end of the village and then left into the park). Far more convenient are buses, which run several times an hour from Sopron’s bus station, picking up near the train station at Csengery utca 52, and continue, largely parallel to the lakeshore and the international cycle route, via Balf, where there are hot springs, rooms and a campsite, to the palace gates.
From mid-June to the end of August Tourinform opens an office opposite the gates at Haydn utca 2 (Mon–Sat 9am–5pm; 99/537-140, fertoaj@tourinform.hu). There’s accommodation in new luxury apartments in the palace (99/537-649, hotel@mag.hu; €101/26,001Ft and over) and several possibilities in the village, including the very pleasant 
Újvári Panzió (99/537-097, www.hotels.hu/ujvari_fertod; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), a modern suburban house at Kossuth utca 57a, about 500m from the palace and 130m down the road to Sarród (where the Fertő-Hanság National Park has its thatched headquarters), whose genial host makes his own wine and will ensure that you have a most enjoyable stay. There’s also the Kata Vendégház at Mikes Kelemen utca 2 (99/370-857, www.hotels.hu/kata_fertod; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), which has large rooms and shared bathrooms plus use of the kitchen and living room; this is 1km south off Vasút sor, the road to Fertőszentmiklós train station. A third option is the Dori Hotel, a bizarre, wooden structure 250m from the palace at Pomogyi utca 1, on the road north to the border (99/370-838, www.dorihotel.hu; €36–45/9001–11,500Ft); it also has a campsite (mid-April to mid-Oct), chalets (€26–55/11,501–14,500Ft) sleeping up to seven, and a restaurant with a good vegetarian choice.
The Kastélykert and Gránátos restaurants are sited across the main road from the palace in its former guardhouses and serve stock Hungarian meals. You can grab a simple snack at the Joco Ételbár, Fő utca 24, and coffee and pastries at the Elit Kávéház, Fő utca 1. For really good local food, however, it’s worth travelling 3km west towards Sopron, to the village of Fertőszéplak, where you’ll find the Polgármester Vendéglő up behind the church at Széchenyi utca 39; the village is known for its row of five peasant-Baroque model houses just east of the church, built by the Széchenyi family for its tenants.
Kőszeg and around
Nestled amidst the sub-Alpine hills along the Austrian border, the small town of KŐSZEG, 50km south of Sopron, cherishes its status as the “Hungarian Thermopylae”, for its heroic resistance to the Turks, and a town centre which can justifiably claim to be one of the prettiest in Hungary. While its castle recalls the medieval Magyar heroism that saved Vienna from the Turks, its Baroque houses and bürgerlich ambience reflect centuries of Austrian and German influence, when Kőszeg was known as Güns. Despite a summer blitzkrieg of tourists that briefly arouses excitement and avarice, this is basically a sleepy, old-fashioned town where people still leave cartons of raspberries and blackberries outside their houses and trust you to leave money for them.
Arrival and information
On arrival at Kőszeg’s bus station on Liszt Ferenc utca, walk 150m up Kossuth utca to the Várkör, a horseshoe-shaped road that follows the course of the fifteenth-century town walls; most things of interest lie within this area. Arriving at the train station 1.5km to the south of town, take a bus to the junction of Fő tér and the Várkör.
The Tourinform office at Jurisics tér 7 (mid-April to mid-Oct Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat 9am–1pm; mid-Oct to mid-April Mon–Fri 8am–5pm; 94/563-120, www.koszeg.hu) also doubles up as the Írottkő Natúrpark Information Centre (www.naturpark.hu), and so can provide information on both the town and the outlying regions, including suggested walks – it also has bikes for rent (1800Ft per day). All four of Kőszeg’s museums are covered by a day ticket (napibérlet; 600Ft), available from the General’s House by the entrance to the Heroes’ Tower. The post office is opposite the church at Várkör 65 (Mon–Fri 8am–4pm, Sat 8–11am).
Accommodation
There’s ample accommodation in Kőszeg, all of it very affordable. Beds are available all year at the Jurisics Miklós Gymnázium at Szent Imre herceg utca 9 (94/361-404, jmg@jurisich-koszeg.sulinet.hu; dorm bed 2400Ft) – follow the Turistaszallo signs to the modern wing on the south side of the school’s hilltop main building. Although it doesn’t offer private rooms, Savaria Tourist at Várkör 69 (Mon–Fri 8am–4pm, Sat 8am–noon; 94/563-048, tourist.koszeg@vivadsl.hu) does have three-bed apartments (€26–35/6501–9000Ft) in town. Rooms are also available (in association with the Nature Park) at the Pont Vendégház (Craft Gallery; 94/563-224, www.pontvendeghaz.hu; €26–35/6501–9000Ft) diagonally opposite Tourinform at Táblaház utca 1. The small and neat Gyöngyvirág campsite, in a suburban garden at Bajcsy-Zsilinszky utca 6, also has rooms in its adjoining pension (94/360-454, www.gyongyviragpanzio.hu; €16–25/4001–6500Ft).
Hotel Aranysárkány Rákóczi Ferenc utca 120 94/362-296, www.clubhotel-aranysarkany.hu. Agreeable, and cheap, pension-type place near the train station with neat, pine-furnished rooms. €26–35/6501–9000Ft
Arany Strucc Hotel Várkör 124 94/360-323, www.aranystrucc.hu. One of the oldest hotels in Hungary, first recorded in the 1590s, “The Golden Ostrich” is a characterful place with fairly simple double rooms with showers; the bigger rooms have minibar. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Hotel Írottkő Fő tér 4 94/360-373, www.hotelirottko.hu. An ugly block on the main square, with tatty, musty-smelling rooms with either bath or shower. Triples are good value. €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft
Kóbor Macska Várkör 100 94/362-273, http://kobormacska.hu. The eighteenth-century “Stray Cat Inn” occupies a splendid spot just to the west of the inner town; large rooms with showers literally in the bedroom and shared toilets. Breakfast extra. €26–35/6501–9000Ft
Portré Panzió Fő tér 7 94/363-170, www.portre.com. Stylish pension on the main square, with sunny yellow-and-blue rooms, subtly furnished with wooden desks and chairs, and smart rugs. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
The Town
The focal point of the town, and hub of most of the activity, is Fő tér, whose main landmark is the run-down Church of the Sacred Heart, built in 1894; it’s reminiscent of an oversized space rocket, but the fancifully patterned interior is worth a peek, as is the plague column in front, raised in 1713. To the west of Fő tér, Városház utca leads up to the 27-metre-high Heroes’ Tower (Hősök tornya; Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; 300Ft). Erected to mark the four-hundredth anniversary of the siege of Kőszeg, this fake medieval portal was one of several commemorative gates raised in the 1920s and 1930s, when Hungary was gripped by nostalgia for bygone glories and resentment towards the Successor States. The entrance to the tower is via the Baroque General’s House at Jurisics tér 6 (Tábornok Ház; Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; 450Ft), containing several rooms of exhibits on bookbinding, carpentry and other historic guilds and crafts.
Beyond the archway lies Jurisics tér, an engaging cobbled square whose antique buildings are watched over by two churches and a limestone Trinity statue, raised in 1739. The most eye-catching facades are those of the seventeenth-century Town Hall at no. 8 (embellished with oval portraits of the Hungarian coat of arms, the Virgin and Child and St Stephen) and the so-called Lada House at no. 12, whose interesting features include heraldic figures, angels’ heads, and a niche with a statue of St Imre. Across the square, at no. 7, is a beautifully sgraffitoed building (now a pizzeria), where the pillory stood in medieval times, and, further along at no. 11, is the Golden Unicorn Pharmacy Museum (Patikaműzeum; March–Nov Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; 450Ft), which preserves an eighteenth-century apothecary’s. The superb oak and chestnut furnishings were removed from the Jesuit Cloister in 1773 following the dissolution of the order, and brought to the pharmacy a few years later when it was opened – you can have a look, too, at the upstairs drying area, where the raw materials were cleaned, chopped and stored.
Past Jurisics tér’s fountain, the Baroque Church of St Imre was built in 1615–40 for the Hungarian Calvinist congregation after German Lutherans took over the adjacent church of St James; since 1673 it has been Catholic. Immediately to its north, the tatty exterior of the Church of St James belies its handsome interior; an early Gothic hall church with fine but faded frescoes at the east end of the south aisle, dating back to 1407, the year the church was completed. The tomb of Miklós Jurisics is in the crypt, and there’s a Renaissance memorial to his children on the north wall.
Facing the churches, Chernel utca is lined with some fine houses, notably a very cool Secession house at no. 18 (on the corner of Várkör) which houses temporary art shows. Just north of the two churches, the sixteenth-century Gombossy House at Rajnis utca 3 houses the new Postal Museum (Postamúzeum; summer daily except Tues 10am–6pm; winter Wed 2–6pm, Thurs 11am–6pm, Fri & Sat 10am–4pm, Sun 11am–4pm; 300Ft), which displays stamps and historic postcards of Kőszeg.
Rajnis utca leads north to Várkör, where you’ll find a former synagogue at no. 38, which can only be viewed from the street. Built in 1859, the redbrick complex resembles an outlying bastion, having two crenellated towers with slit windows, and originally included a yeshiva and a ritual bath. Its dereliction is a sad reminder of the provincial Jewish communities that never recovered from the Holocaust, for – unlike the Budapest ghetto – their extermination was scheduled for the summer of 1944, when Eichmann’s death-machine still ran at full throttle. Oddly, a Lutheran bell-tower stands next to the synagogue. When the barn-like Lutheran church behind it was built in 1783, József II had decreed that non-Catholic churches could not have bell-towers or steeples; this bell-tower was only built in 1930, but at double the usual height, as if to compensate.
From Várkör you can head up Hunyadi utca to the west for ten minutes, passing a number of fortress-like villas, to the Chernel Arboretum of sub-Alpine trees (Chernel-Kert; Mon–Thurs 9am–3pm, Fri till 1pm, although the gate may well be open at other times); towards the rear of the gardens is a one-roomed museum dedicated to the works of local ornithologist István Chernel (same times; 300Ft). Just beyond, by the car park, is the István Bechtold Nature Conservation Visitor Centre (Bechtold István Természetvédelmi Látogatóközpont-belépőjegy; May–Oct Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; Nov–April Tues–Fri 10am–4pm; 900Ft; www.buboscinege.hu), a modern circular building packed with displays on the Írottkő Nature Park. Heading the same distance in the opposite direction you’ll come to the outdoor swimming pool, across the river: follow Kiss János utca eastwards from Várkör then go to the right – a signpost in Fő tér points towards the strand. Otherwise, head back the other way to the castle.
The Castle
The Turks swore that Kőszeg Castle was “built at the foot of a mountain difficult to climb; its walls wider than the whole world, its bastions higher than the fish of the Zodiac in heaven, and so strong that it defies description”. Since the castle is actually quite small, with not a mountain in sight, the hyperbole is probably explained by its heroic defence during the month-long siege of 1532, when the Grand Vizier Ibrahim and eighty thousand Turks were resisted by four hundred soldiers under Captain Miklós Jurisics (actually a Croatian called Nikola Jurisich). After nineteen assaults the Sultan abandoned campaigning until the following year, by which time Vienna was properly defended. Little did they know that the defenders were on the point of surrendering. Today’s visitors won’t find anything dramatic when they cross the grassy moat into an ugly yard made worse by postwar additions, although the Town Museum (Városi Múzeum; Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; 600Ft), in the east wing of the castle, has a reasonable display of military relics and furniture owned by town officers, as well as two rooms on viticulture, including the “Grape Book” – a log book which has documented, largely in the form of sketches, local wine making since 1740 and is still updated every year on St George’s Day. In summer the castle really comes to life with the staging of medieval games in the moat and concerts in the yard (see below).
Eating, drinking and entertainment
The best restaurants in town are the Taverna Florian at Várkör 59, a smart cellar serving Mediterranean cuisine (Tues–Sat 5–10pm, summer and weekends also 11.30am–2.30pm), and the one in the Portré Panzió, which sports a garden terrace and pavement café. Near the Florian, at Várkör 55, Pizzeria da Rocco has some drab rooms but a nice bar, often with live music, and a great garden by the castle walls. Two humbler places are the Kulacs Vendéglő at Várkör 12, which is also good for a lighter snack, and the Kék Huszár at Várkör 62 (behind the castle on Károly Róbert tér), which has an agreeable straw-roofed beer garden.
The pace of life here dictates that drinking options are few and far between. Aside from the bar at the Portré, you could try the Bécsikapu Söröző, opposite St James’ Church at Rajnis utca 5, or the beer garden at the back of the Kék Huszár. If you enjoy quaffing wine in medieval surroundings, the vaulted ceiling and high Gothic windows of the Poncichter Weinstube at Rajnis utca 10 provide an ideal setting. For a more contemporary feel, try the Oinoteka-Borárium at Rajnis utca 1 (Wed & Thurs 11am–6pm, Fri & Sat 10am–7pm, Sun 10am–4pm).
The best coffee, strudel and ices are to be had at the Ibrahim Kávézó, a few paces along from the Portré Panzió at Fő tér 17, whose long, narrow and Oriental-styled interior leads to a lovely terrace area. There’s coffee, hot chocolate, cakes and pastries at Soproni Zoltán’s lovely old-fashioned shop at Rákóczi utca 4 (Mon–Fri 5am–noon & 12.30–4pm, Sat 5am–noon). The Cukrászada of the Arany Strucc Hotel at Várkör 124 is a delight, like a bourgeois sitting room with lovely deep armchairs, serving coffee and alcoholic drinks. The Teeház Fehér Tigris at Fő tér 28 is a very civilized venue for supping tea.
Wine lovers are well catered for in Kőszeg, with the Grape Festival on April 24 celebrated with events such as wine contests, concerts and folklore programmes, and a Wine Festival on the last weekend of September featuring a carnival, brass band and horse shows. The Summer Festival takes place in July and August, with theatre and opera in the castle yard.
The Írottkő Nature Park
Up against the border, immediately west of Kőszeg, the Írottkő Nature Park, established in 1997, is one of the dividends of the ending of the Cold War, with what was once a militarized border zone now a popular and well-managed recreation area. Information is available from the Írottkő Natúrpark Information Centre in Kőszeg’s Tourinform office, as well as at Savaria Tourist.
While there are reasonably long hikes on the Hungarian side, it’s also possible to continue into Austria (the Írottkő border crossing is open April–Oct 7am–8pm, Nov–March 8am–4pm). The new Alpannonia hiking route leads in six days from Kőszeg to Semmering (on the Vienna-Graz railway), its main route marked with a white swirl on red signs, and feeders with a white swirl on yellow.
The park’s easiest hike is along the well-signposted trail through the hills to the Óház lookout tower, 5km west at an altitude of 609m. Built in 1996, this was named Óház or Old House due to its medieval foundations; set out along Temetö utca (south of the arboretum) past the run-down Jewish cemetery behind a row of cypresses at the corner of Park utca. From the Óház tower you can head back into town past the Seven Springs (Hétforrás), a spring with seven waterspouts commemorating the chiefs of the seven Magyar tribes, and the steps, lined with Stations of the Cross, up to the Calvary church. At the bottom of the hill you can turn left to reach a boating lake, or bear right for town, passing the Szálasi shelter in the hillside where St Stephen’s Crown was hidden from bombing from December 1944 to March 1945, before being smuggled out of Hungary.
Alternatively, continue about 6km further southwest to the 884-metre Írottkő tower, on the Austrian border; this was built, in a similar castle-like style to the Óház tower, in 1913. Its name (Geschriebenstein in German) means Written Stone, due to an inscribed slab about 40m from the tower; again, there are remains of an Árpád-era fortress here.
Cak, Velem, Bozsok and Horvátszidány
If you want to explore further afield, there are four attractive villages in the Kőszeg-Hegyalja region, south of town. There’s a signed cycle route, or buses bound for Velem or Bozsok can drop you off in pretty CÁK, 6km south of Kőszeg, with a protected row of old thatched wine and fruit cellars at Petőfi utca 19 (Szabadtéri Múzeum, key at Petőfi utca 36; mid-April to Oct Tues–Sun 10am–noon & 2–6pm; 300Ft), actually little more than wattle-and-daub hovels with straw hats on. You can stay at the Pincesor Vendéghaz, Petőfi utca 37 (94/361-036, www.falusi.hu/cakivendeghaz; €16–25/4001–6500Ft), or camp at Cáki Sátorverőhely, Petőfi utca 31 (94/363-371; May 15–Sept 30). The Csikó Csárda, at Fő utca 56, near the bus stop at the entrance to the village, is a good place for lunch, and if you want to continue you can pick up the walking trails, marked with a yellow stripe, to the neighbouring villages of Bozsok and Velem, and to the Írottkő tower.
VELEM, 4km further down the road, is famous for its handicrafts and on August 20 each year holds the Craftsmen’s Feast at the Creative House, where the traditional crafts and trades of the village are celebrated, along with wine drinking and other folklore programmes. At the entrance to the village is the sprawling Millennium Memorial Park (Millenniumi Emlékpark), a somewhat kitsch assemblage of mini attractions – including a doll museum and waxworks exhibition – built in 2001 to commemorate the millennium. You’ll also find a large, rustically styled restaurant here. A couple of kilometres east, on the edge of Köszegszardahely, there’s a fine two-wheel watermill (May–Oct Tues–Sun 9.30am–5pm).
Accommodation is available at the Boróka Villa at Kossuth utca 8 (94/936-0036, www.boroka-villa.hu; €46–55/11,501–14,500Ft), while the Kern Vendégház at Rákóczi utca 56 (94/363-612, www.kern.inf.hu) is affiliated to Hostelling International, with beds from 2400Ft for members. In addition village tourism is flourishing here and you’ll find many houses advertising rooms for the night.
Five kilometres further southwest is BOZSOK, basically a one-street village with a largely seventeenth-century manor house set in a lovely park at Rákóczi utca 1. It now serves as the bland Sibrik Castle Hotel (Sibrik Kastélyszállo; &94/360-960; €36–45/9001–11,500Ft), while, in the same grounds, the Dobrádi Riding School offers riding lessons and trips in the region (daily: April–Oct 9am–noon & 2–6pm; Nov–March 10am–noon & 2–5pm; 94/363-342). A cheaper option is the Szilvia Panzió at Rákóczi utca 120 (94/361-009, www.hegyimenok.fw.hu; €16–25/4001–6500Ft), with camping alongside (Napsugár Nyaraló, Rákóczi utca 119; 94/310-694; mid-March to mid-Nov); otherwise, many houses along this street offer rooms. For refreshments head to the Aranypatak at Rákóczi utca 29, or the Imperial Pub, 500m further along the road at no. 101.
The village of HORVÁTSZIDÁNY, 6km east of Kőszeg at the junction of the bus routes to Sárvár and Sopron, is also known as Hrvatski Židan or Croatian Zsidány, due to Croatian colonists being invited to settle after the 1532 siege; there’s an Exhibition of Ethnic Croatians at Fő utca 6 (Mon–Fri 8am–4pm, weekends by appointment), featuring costumes and other handicrafts.
Szombathely and around
Commerce has been the lifeblood of SZOMBATHELY (“Saturday market”) ever since the town was founded by Emperor Claudius in 43 AD to control trade on the Amber Road from the Baltic to the Adriatic. Savaria, as it was then called, soon became the capital of Pannonia Superior, and a significant city in the Roman Empire. It was here that Septimus Severus was proclaimed emperor in 193 AD and Saint Martin of Tours was born in 317. Under Frankish rule in the eighth century, the town, known as Steinamanger, prospered through trade with Germany. Nowadays, it is Austrians who boost the economy, flooding in for shopping, hairdos or medical treatment in the town they’ve nicknamed “the discount store”.
From a tourist’s standpoint, the chief attractions are the outdoor Village Museum (Skanzen) and Roman ruins, and a Belváros stuffed with Baroque and Neoclassical architecture. Szombathely is also the base for a side-trip to the beautiful Romanesque church at Ják and, further out, the spa and castle at Sárvár, home of the infamous “Blood Countess” Erzsébét Báthori. If you’re here at Easter time, there are colourful religious processions in Szombathely and other towns in the region.
Arrival and information
Arriving at the attractive train station, walk west along Széll Kálmán utca – 100m to the left of the station as you exit – to get to the centre (just under 1km), or catch a #2, #3, #5, #7, #7Y, #10 or #11 bus to Mártírok tere, close to Fő tér. The intercity bus station is next to the Romkert, just ten minutes’ walk west of Fő tér, reached by bus #5 from the train station.
The Tourinform office is located on the southwestern corner of Fő tér at Kossuth utca 1–3 (Mon–Fri 9am–5pm; 94/514-451, szombathely@tourinform.hu). Train information and tickets are available from MÁV Tours at Király utca 8 (Mon–Fri 8.30am–4.30pm). The post office is at Kossuth utca 18 (Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat 8am–noon) and there’s internet access at the Paparazzi Club at Fő tér 36 (Mon–Wed 7.45am–10pm, Fri & Sat 7.45am–1am, Sun 2–10pm) and at Hollán Ernő utca 12.
Accommodation
The cheapest accommodation is in one of the three centrally located colleges, with beds in shared (€15/4000Ft and under) and private rooms (€16–35/6501–9000Ft) available all year through Ibusz at Fő tér 44 (Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 8am–noon; 94/314-141, szombathely@ibusz.hu). Tópart camping, by the Anglers’ Lake 2km west of town at Kenderesi utca 14 (94/509-039; May–Sept), has chalets sleeping two to three (€16–25/4001–6500Ft) or four to five (€36–45/9001–11,500Ft); it’s a ten-minute walk down Gagarin utca, north of the Hotel Claudius, or take bus #2C from the centre.
Amphora Hotel Dósza Győrgy utca 9 94/512-712, www.amphorahotel.hu. Elegant little hotel a 10min walk west of Fő tér across the river, with ultramodern, immaculate, a/c rooms, as well as the Görög (Greek) Pizzéria. €71–85/18,501–22,500Ft
Hotel Claudius Bartók Béla krt. 39 94/313-760, www.claudiushotel.hu. A 1970s block next to the baths, now decently renovated. €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft
Perintparti Panzió Kunos Endre utca 3 94/339-265. Unfussy five-room place just 300m west of the bus station, across the river. Good value. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Hotel Wagner Kossuth Lajos utca 15 94/322-208, www.hotelwagner.hu. This small, compact hotel has class stamped all over it; beautifully styled, a/c rooms with lush green carpets, desks with table lamps, and safes. €71–85/18,501–22,500Ft
The Town
There’s little to see on the vast main square, Fő ter (more of a triangle really), other than a statue of James Joyce coming through the wall just east of Ibusz at Fő tér 40/41 (Leopold Bloom, protagonist of his Ulysses, came from Szombathely, and conveniently a family called Blum was identified as living at this address in the mid-nineteenth century). Therefore you’re best off making a beeline for the cathedral and the Romkert to the west, and conserve some enthusiasm for the Village Museum.
West of Fő tér
The city’s most interesting sights lie to the west of Fő tér around Berzsenyi Dániel tér. Szombathely’s cathedral, a few paces north on Templom tér, postdates the great fire that ravaged the town in 1716, which explains why it is Neoclassical rather than Baroque or Gothic. The bishopric was only founded in 1777, and the huge cathedral was finished twenty years later. Unfortunately, its exuberant frescoes by Maulbertsch were destroyed by US bombing in the last months of World War II, and painstaking structural restoration has stopped short of re-creating his work. A glass-fronted coffin in the south aisle contains the grisly remains of a mitred saint.
To the right of the cathedral lies the impressive Romkert or Roman Garden (April–Nov Tues–Sat 9am–5pm; 450Ft), comprising the remnants of the public baths, potters’ workshops, a customs house and some fine segments of mosaic floor from Roman Savaria. Recent research suggests this was the site of either the Basilica of St Quirinus, the largest church in Pannonia, or, more likely, the Roman Governor’s Palace.
On the other side of the cathedral is the Bishop’s Palace, completed in 1783, its facade crowned by statues of Prudence, Justice, Fortitude and Temperance. Although it’s not possible to visit the palace, you can view the Sala Terrena (May–Sept Tues–Fri 9.30am–3.30pm, Sat 9.30–11.30am; 300Ft) on the right-hand side of the building, which features frescoes of ancient Savaria by Dorfmeister, as well as Roman stoneworks and some glittering ecclesiastical treasures. Next door to the palace, the intriguing Smidt Museum (Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; 600Ft) represents the fruits of a lifelong obsession. As a boy, Lajos Smidt (1903–75) scoured battlefields for souvenirs and collected advertisements and newspapers, diversifying into furniture and pictures as an adult. The destruction of many items during World War II only spurred him to redouble his efforts during retirement and, finally, he founded this museum (now run by the city) to house his extraordinary collection. Highlights include huge Celtic swords, Austro-Hungarian uniforms, the dancing slippers of Széchenyi’s wife, and clocks galore, as well as the tiny electric tram outside.
South and east of Fő tér
Another relic of ancient Savaria only came to light in 1955, when construction work along Rákóczi utca, five minutes’ walk south of Fő tér, uncovered the Iseum or Temple of Isis, dating from the second century AD, one of only three such temples extant in Europe. It still looks like a bombsite, with just a few columns standing, and it’s not possible to visit the ruins up close, but there’s a good view from the balcony leading to the Szombathely Gallery (Szombathelyi Képtár; Tues–Sun 10am–5pm, till 7pm Wed; 750Ft), which hosts temporary art shows, an exhaustive display of modern Hungarian art, and a stylish contemporary textile collection. You may have to ask for the lights to be turned on in the permanent collection (Allándo Kiállítás), but it’s well worth it, with a great range of mostly abstract or avant-garde works from the 1920s onwards.
Across the road from the gallery stands Szombathely’s former synagogue, a lovely neo-Byzantine pile built in 1881 and now home to the Bartók Concert Hall and music college. Sadly, all that now remains of the town’s Jewish presence is a plaque recording that “4228 of our Jewish brothers and sisters were deported from this place to Auschwitz on 4 July, 1944”.
A five-minute walk to the northeast of Fő tér, at Kisfaludy utca 9, is the Savaria Museum (mid-April to mid-Oct Tues–Thurs 10am–5pm, Fri 10am–7pm, Sat & Sun 10am–4pm; mid-Oct to mid-April Tues, Thurs & Fri 10am–5pm, Wed 10am–8pm, Sat 9am–2pm; 600Ft), which presents Szombathely’s history largely in the form of archeological and ethnographical displays, and couldn’t be duller if it tried.
Beyond the Belváros
Szombathely’s northern suburbs harbour two more attractions which can be reached by bus #1 from Petőfi utca. The Kámoni Arboretum (April to mid-Oct Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat & Sun 9am–6pm; mid-Oct to March daily 8am–4pm; 300Ft) contains 2500 different kinds of trees, shrubs and flowers, with an especially varied assortment of roses, while just up the road is the grandly named Gotthárd Astrophysics Observatory (Csillag Vizsgáló; Mon–Fri 9am–4pm; 300Ft), with an interesting exhibition on cosmology.
Northwest of the centre lie the Rowing Lake (Csónakázótó) and the Anglers’ Lake (Horgásztó), two smallish ponds where locals fish and go boating near an outdoor thermal bath (Fedett Uszoda Termálfürdő; Mon 2–9.30pm, Tues–Fri 6am–9.30pm, Sat & Sun 9am–6pm; 1200Ft). Bus #27 (twice an hour) takes you to both lakes and to the Village Museum (Skanzen; April–Oct Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; 750Ft) at Árpád utca 30, beyond the Anglers’ Lake. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century farmsteads are reconstructed here, culled from 27 villages in the Őrség region, and furnished with all the necessities and knick-knacks, making an architectural progression from log cabins to timber-framed wattle-and-daub dwellings. Every other month there are demonstrations of traditional folk crafts and dances of the region.
The green-belt district south of the lakes includes a small game park (Vadaszkert) with deer, pheasants and other wildlife – nothing to get too excited about, but a nice place for a picnic. The park is situated on Víztorony utca; take bus #7 to Jókai utca and walk past the water tower, continuing for ten minutes.
Eating and drinking
Szombathely has a handful of terrific restaurants and some good cafés.
Art Café Fő tér 10. This elegant café is by far the most popular in town.
Café Móló Rákóczi utca 5. North of the music college, this stylish, modern café-restaurant serves pizza, salads, vegetarian and other main dishes.
Fontana Savaria tér 1D. A cool café-restaurant.
Gödör Hollán Ernő utca 10–12. Sister restaurant to the Jégverem in Sopron, this is a huge and immensely enjoyable cellar restaurant, serving roisteringly hearty meals. Closes 3pm Sun.
Hotel Wagner Kossuth Lajos utca 15. The hotel’s beautifully appointed dining area is the setting for Hungarian cuisine of great distinction, including an above-average vegetarian menu. Closes 4pm Sun.
Mimik Café Ady Endre tér 5. In the Cultural Hall, this is a delightfully retro 1950s-style coffee-bar, serving little more than drinks and hot dogs. Closed Sun.
Öreg Sam Söröző Étterem Gagarin 14 www.oregsam.hu. Just west of the centre, this beerhall/restaurant has a beautifully kept garden and terrace in addition to the wood-panelled main room, and serves filling Hungarian and German meals and beers. Closed Sun.
Pannonia Fő tér 29. With its thick wooden beams, bench seating and soothing lighting, this is an ideal venue for exceptional dishes of game, poultry and fish, as well as pizza. There’s also a small wine shop.
Royal Söröző On the north side of Fő tér. A pavement café that also serves draught beer and meals; also the Bécsi, opposite.
Festivals
The town stages several major cultural events, the most important of which are the Spring Days in late March, the International Dance Festival in June, and, biggest and best of all, the Savaria Historical Carnival (Történelmi Karnéval; www.savariakarneval.hu) at the end of August, featuring Roman games, medieval theatre, music and food, and a final, spectacular torch-lit procession. There is a strong musical tradition in Szombathely, home to an orchestra, the Savaria Symphony, and an early music ensemble, the Capella Savaria. The international Bartók Festival in mid-July is another highlight, with a two-week series of seminars and concerts. At other times of the year, check out what’s happening at the Bartók Concert Hall, the hideous 1960s Cultural Centre on Március 15 tér, or the cultural hall on Ady Endre tér, west of the bus station.
Ják
With hourly buses (some continuing to Körmend) from Szombathely to the village of JÁK, 16km southwest, and trains stopping nearby at Ják-Balogunyom, you can easily visit Hungary’s most outstanding Romanesque abbey church (daily: April–Oct 8am–6pm; Nov–March 10am–2pm; 300Ft), which is far more impressive than the scaled-down replica in Budapest’s Városliget. The church sits on a hilltop overlooking the feudal domain of Márton Nagy, who founded it in 1214 and personally checked that his serfs attended Sunday services, whipping any who failed to do so. The church was built in two stages and completed in 1256, with some Gothic elements; facing it is the circular chapel of St James (Szent Jakab Kapelle), completed in 1260, which is used by the village and left open.
The church is similar in plan to its ruined contemporary at Lébény, and likewise influenced by the Scottish Benedictine church in Regensburg, the point from which Norman architecture spread into Central Europe. It was restored in the 1890s by Frigyes Schulek, the architect of the Fishermen’s Bastion in Budapest, who added the stumpy spires atop Ják’s towers. The church’s most striking feature is the magnificent portal on the western facade, where Christ and his apostles surmount a Norman zigzag arch composed of six orders and many sub-orders. Inside, the barely visible frescoes, and the exquisite medieval altarpieces in the north and south aisles, can be viewed by depositing a 100Ft coin in the slot. By the car park on the south side of the church is a shop where you should pay your entry fee and can ask to see the former abbot’s residence, which displays a handful of locally excavated artefacts. Although there’s no real reason to stay here, there is the Jaki Turistaház (94/321-436; €16–25/4001–6500Ft), just below the church on the main road, as well as several Zimmer frei signs around the village.
Sárvár
SÁRVÁR, on the River Rába 25km east of Szombathely, from where trains and buses run hourly, is the most recently developed spa centre in Hungary, following the discovery of hot springs over 25 years ago. The spas were developed to attract hard currency from German and Austrian tourists and still do a roaring trade, but aside from wallowing and quaffing, the town’s only real attraction is the fortress that gives Sárvár its name – “Mud Castle”.
Arrival and information
The train station is 800m to the north of town on Selyemgyár utca – take bus #1 or #1V, or it’s a ten-minute walk along Hunyadi János utca and Batthyány utca towards the castle; the bus station is 300m west along Batthyány utca, just beyond the fire station with a pair of nineteenth-century handpumps in front. Tourinform is located opposite the castle entrance at Várkerület 33 (July & Aug Mon–Fri 9am–5pm, Sat 9am–1pm, rest of year Mon–Fri 9am–4pm; 95/520-178, sarvar@tourinform.hu), with the main post office next door at no. 32 (Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat 9am–noon).
Accommodation
Thanks mainly to the baths, there’s loads of accommodation in town and even in August you shouldn’t have a problem. Private rooms (€16–25/4001–6500Ft) are available through Savaria Tourist, next to Tourinform (May–Sept Mon–Fri 8am–5pm, Sat 8am–noon; Oct–April Mon–Fri 8.30am–4.30pm; 95/320-578, savariatourist.sarvar@enternet.hu), or look for Zimmer frei signs on Feket utca, for instance. There’s tent-space at the year-round Sárvárcampsite behind the baths at Vadkert utca 1 (95/326-502, info@sarvarfurdo.hu), which has chalets sleeping two (€26–35/6501–9000Ft); the site can be reached by taking bus #1Y to the end of the line.
Hotel Arborétum Medgyessy Ferenc utca 20 95/520-630, www.hotelarboretum.hu. Tucked away on a quiet residential street behind the arboretum, this great-value place has cool, ultra-modern rooms. €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft
Hotel Bassiana Várkerület 29-2 95/521-300, www.hotelbassiana.hu. A stylish new four-star place on the east side of the castle park. €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft
Danubius Health Spa Resort Rákóczi út 1 95/888-400, www.danubiushotels.com/sarvar. Supremely comfortable place with indoor and outdoor thermal pools, sauna, gym and curative facilities; service is good but somewhat impersonal. €86–100/22,501–26,000Ft
Platán Hotel Hunyadi János utca 23 95/326-484, www.platanhotel.hu. Between the train station and the centre, this delightful small hotel has generously sized rooms with pristine bathrooms, designer beds and minibar; also has a great café and restaurant. €56–70/14,501–18,500Ft
Szieszta Panzió Rákóczi út 57a 95/320-456, www.sziesztapanzio.try.hu. Facing the baths, this place has lounge-type rooms with sofa and small balcony; included in the price is use of the two pools (one indoors, one with sliding roof) and whirlpool – a water-lover’s paradise. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Tinódi Panzió Hunyadi János utca 11 95/320-225, www.tinodifogado.hu. 200m up from the Platán, this place has minimal but colourful rooms, with small beds and small bathrooms. €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
Wolf Panzió Rákóczi út 11 95/321-499, www.wolfhotel.hu. Big, blue-furnished rooms with more than ample cupboard space, TV and fridge. The same owners run the slightly smarter Wolf Hotel (€46–55/11,501–14,500Ft) across the road at Alkotmány utca 4 (95/320-460). €36–45/9001–11,500Ft
The Town
Though the term “Mud Castle” might have been appropriate until the fourteenth century, it hardly applies to Sárvár Castle today, which stands in the heart of the town encircled by the Várkerület. Reached by a long low brick bridge across the surrounding moat, it’s busy with locals wheeling bikes through to reach the town’s library. Modified by many owners over the centuries, its pentagonal layout and palatial interior are owed to the Nádasdy family, particularly Tamás Nádasdy, who hired Italian architects and made this a centre of Renaissance humanism. It was here that the first Hungarian translation of the New Testament was printed in 1541. The Festival Hall is decorated with Dorfmeister frescoes of biblical episodes, allegories of art and science, and murals (dating from 1653) depicting the “Black Knight” Ferenc Nádasdy, Tamás’s son, routing the Turks. Ferenc was also a humanist, and patron of Sebestyén Lantos Tinódi, the poet who exhorted his countrymen to resist the Turks. The Ferenc Nádasdy Museum (Nádasdy Ferenc Múzeum; Tues–Sun 9am–5pm; 600Ft), inside the castle, displays a voluminous array of weapons, uniforms and memorabilia associated with Tamás and Ferenc, but barely a reference to the latter’s wife, the infamous Countess Báthori.
The former castle gardens across the Várkerület to the east are now a large arboretum (daily: April to mid-Oct 9am–7pm; mid-Oct to March 9am–5pm; 300Ft), which has been a protected reserve since 1952, though its oldest trees date from the eighteenth century. Now, these extensive gardens feature black pines, ash and yew trees, as well as a beautiful collection of azaleas and magnolias. From here it’s nearly 1km along Rákóczi utca to the thermal baths (Mon–Thurs & Sun, 9am–8pm, Fri & Sat 9am–9pm; 2400Ft, after 5pm 1500Ft, after 8pm 900Ft) at Vadkert utca 1. The renovated complex includes three indoor pools and several outdoor pools (May–Sept), a sauna centre (naked; 1800Ft), and numerous special treatment facilities. For something a little more animated, the owners of the Vadkert Fogadó, just behind the baths on Vadkert utca, run a riding school (daily 8am–4pm; 1800Ft per hour; 95/320-045) and also have tennis courts for use.
Countess Erzsébet Báthori
Countess Erzsébet Báthori has gone down in history as Die Blutgräfin (The Blood Countess), who tortured to death over six hundred women and girls, sometimes biting chunks of flesh from their necks and breasts – the origin of legends that she bathed in the blood of virgins to keep her own skin white and translucent. Yet there’s a strong case that the accusations arose from a conspiracy against her by the Palatine of Hungary, Count Thurzó, and her own son-in-law, Miklós Zrínyi, grandson of the hero of Szigetvár.
Born in 1560, the offspring of two branches of the Báthori family (whose intermarriage might explain several cases of lunacy in the dynasty), Erzsébet was married at the age of 15 to Ferenc Nádasdy and assumed responsibility for their vast estates, which she inherited upon his death in 1604. To the chagrin of her sons-in-law and the Palatine, she refused to surrender any of them. Worse still from a Habsburg standpoint, the election of her nephew, “Crazy” Gábor Báthori, as Prince of Transylvania raised the prospect of a Báthori alliance that would upset the balance of power and border defences on which Habsburg rule depended.
In December 1610 Thurzó raided her residence at Čachtice, and claimed to have caught her literally red-handed. Under torture, her associates testified to scores of secret burials at Sárvár, Čachtice and elsewhere, and the Countess was immediately walled up in a room at Čachtice, where she died in 1614. Although Thurzó amassed nearly three hundred depositions, no trial was ever held, as the death of Gábor Báthori reduced her political significance to the point that it served nobody’s interests to besmirch the Nádasdy and Báthori names.
While there’s little doubt that there was a conspiracy against the Countess, it’s hard to believe that she was totally innocent. There were accusations of her cruelty at Sárvár even before her widowhood, and the theory that the tortures were actually medical treatments doesn’t explain the most atrocious cases. Probably the best one can say is that she was a victim of double standards in an era when brutality was rife and the power of nobles unbridled.
Eating, drinking and entertainment
There’s a definite shortage of really good restaurants in town. The best one is the Várkapu, just west of the castle at Várkerület 5 (daily 8.30am–10pm), whose varied menu includes pizza, fish, rabbit, duck and that most rare of meats in Hungary, lamb; you can dine in its refined interior or on the stylish outdoor terrace. Otherwise, the restaurants in the Platán Hotel and Tinódi Panzió are worth trying, the former offering some game dishes and the latter serving Hungarian food and pizza. The Platán also has the best café in town, while the Tercia konditorei, in the baths complex, has some delicious pastries. For more serious drinking, with English beer on tap (plus 20 teas, including maté and red bush), head to Club 63 at Batthyány utca 63. The Café Mirage at Rákóczi utca is a very stylish café-konditorei, also serving pizza and fine Slovak Zlaty Bazant beer; it also has rooms (30/456-0276, www.galeriapanzio.hu; €26–35/6501–9000Ft).
Sárvár’s key event is the International Folklore Festival, celebrated in mid-August in the castle’s courtyard, and in the same vein, but only in even-numbered years, there are the so-called History Days, with concerts, traditional dancing and singing. The International Summer Meeting of Electro-Acoustic Music at the end of July features open rehearsals and free concerts.
The Őrség
The forested Őrség region, some 30km south of Szombathely, has guarded Hungary’s southwestern marches since the time of the Árpáds. Dotted with hilltop watchtowers and isolated hamlets, every man here was sworn to arms in lieu of paying tax. The people became used to their freedom and refused to be bound into serfdom by the Batthyány family, whose seat was at nearby Körmend. Moist winds from the Mediterranean make this the rainiest, greenest part of Hungary, while the heavy clay soil allows no form of agriculture except raising cattle, but provides ample raw material for the local pottery industry. Until well into the twentieth century, when the Őrség declined as villagers migrated to Zalaegerszeg, houses were constructed of wood plastered with clay. Today, the region’s soft landscapes and folksy architecture are a powerful draw and village tourism is flourishing, with many homes offering a bed and food.
There are several approaches, depending on your starting point, although your best bet is to take one of the ten or so daily buses from Körmend to Őriszentpéter, perhaps the nicest of the villages. Alternatively, you could take a train (eight daily) from Zalaegerszeg via Zalalövő to Őriszentpéter. Given the limited bus services and quiet roads, cycling is an ideal way of getting around. Bikes can be rented at several villages, but it’s wise to bring waterproof clothing for the inevitable drizzles.
Őriszentpéter
ŐRISZENTPÉTER is the obvious base for exploring the region, a straggling village made up of groups of houses (szer), built on nine separate ridges to escape flooding, each with one road bearing the same name – Városszer, Szikaszer, etc – and numbered round in a circle. During the last weekend of June the village hosts the Őrség Fair, with folk music, dancing and handicrafts. Buses run to Szentgotthárd, Körmend and Zalalövő from the bus station just to the right from the central roundabout facing the Centrum Panzió; there’s also a new train station 1km south of the centre, up the track on the east side of the Centrum Panzió. It also boasts the best tourist facilities in the Őrség, including a tourist information office at Városszer 55, 1.4km west, near the Romanesque church (Mon–Fri: April–Sept 9am–noon & 1–4pm; Oct–March 10am–4pm; 94/548-023, www.orsegnet.hu), whose helpful staff can advise on private accommodation in the whole region. To the rear is the headquarters of the Őrseg National Park (94/548-034, http://onp.nemzetipark.gov.hu), with information panels (in Hungarian) outside and a short educational path in the woods.
Rooms are advertised all along Városszer and Kovácsszer. Alternatively, the Centrum Panzió at Városszer 17 (&94/350-319; €26–35/6501–9000Ft), by the village’s central roundabout, has simple, cool rooms with TV and bathroom, not to mention a bowling alley with a 1950s-rocket-scientist control desk. To the rear, at Városszer 16, the Horvárth Kert Panzió (94/548-053; €36–45/9001–11,500Ft) is quiet and welcoming. You can get decent meals at the Bognár Étterem, 600m up the hill from the bus station at Kovácsszer 96, including the local speciality dödölle (fried potato and onion dumplings served with soured cream). You can rent bikes at Varósszer 69 (70/378-5761) and Városszer 116 (94/428-989; 1500Ft a day), and horseriding can be arranged at Szikaszer 18. There’s a post office at the central roundabout (Mon–Fri 8am–4pm).
Beside the road to Szalafő, 2km west of the centre of the village, stands a beautiful thirteenth-century Romanesque church with a finely carved portal and traces of frescoes inside, which can only be properly seen by attending Sunday Mass (8.30am; not the first Sun of the month), or taking the external stairs (daily 10am–2pm; obtain the key from the priest next door) to the choir loft, where there’s a decent view of the interior and information in French, German and Hungarian. A hedge marks the line of the sixteenth-century defensive walls, with a moat outside.
Szalafő
The village of SZALAFŐ, 6km up the road from Őriszentpéter, likewise consists of small separate settlements on adjacent ridges, with a church and bar at the hub of the radiating roads. From here it’s 3km to Pityerszer, a mini Village Museum (mid-April to Oct Tues–Sun 10am–5pm; 300Ft) of heavy-timbered houses typical of the region, which gives a good idea of life as it was five or six decades ago. Notice the little hen ladders that run up the sides of the houses. Tickets are sold at the büfé across the road from the museum, where you can also get refreshments. There are buses (Mon–Fri 4 daily, Sat & Sun 2 daily) from Körmend and Őriszentpéter to Szalafő-felső, the terminus, and you’ll find the museum a further kilometre’s walk in the same direction.
If you happen to be here on May 1, look out for dancing around the tall, slender may tree. The origins of this ritual have long been lost, but many pine trees in the Őrség region are stripped of their lower branches as teenaged boys shin up to retrieve bottles of champagne suspended from the higher branches. Some even plant may trees in their girlfriends’ gardens in the middle of the night.
Lots of houses advertise rooms for rent; try the Csörgő Vendégház at Csörgőszer 20 (94/428-623; €16–25/4001–6500Ft), run by the same people who run the bar in the centre of the village. They can also direct you to several houses selling delicious goat’s and cow's cheese (sajt) and milk (tej). The Hubertus Vendégház, by the entrance to the village at Alsószer 20, serves hot meals.
Other villages in the region
Seven kilometres east of Őriszentpéter at PANKASZ, you can stop to admire the rustic wooden bell-tower; follow signs off the main road to the Posta for 200m. Bikes and rooms can be rented at HEGYHÁTSZENTJAKAB, 3km further north, off the road between Zalalövő and Pankasz (but served by buses to Őriszentpéter), where you will find the comfortable Trófea Panzió (94/426-230; €46–55/11,501–14,500Ft) and a popular swimming lake, the Vadása-tó.
More appealing, though, are two villages along a minor road south of Őriszentpéter. In the hills along the Slovenian border, 12km away, the tiny village of MAGYARSZOMBATFA, with just three hundred residents, preserves the old tradition of Habán pottery, sold through the local Potters’ House (Fazekasház). The road continues 6km southeast to VELEMÉR, also known for its ceramics, whose single-aisled Romanesque church contains beautiful frescoes from 1377. To view them, ask for the key at the house signposted Templomkulcs. The church lies across the fields, hidden in the trees, about 500m from the main road. There are nine daily buses (four at weekends) to Velemér from Őriszentpéter via Magyarszombatfa.
Into Slovenia
Hungary has two road crossings into Slovenia. Most traffic heads to the Rédics/Dolga Vas crossing, 30km south on Route 75, running down from Keszthely. The Hodoş/Salovci crossing is quieter; the turn-off is midway between Őriszentpéter and Magyarszombatfa. A railway has recently been constructed, from Zalalövő to Murska Sobota via the Hodoş crossing, although this currently carries only one international train a day in each direction.
Zalaegerszeg
As capital of Zala county, ZALAEGERSZEG, just 37km west of Keszthely, is itself familiarly known as Zala; it began to metamorphose after the discovery of oil in 1937, and is now the most industrialized town in southwestern Hungary, with a population of 70,000. Despite the futuristic television tower featured on tourist brochures and the bleak downtown area of housing estates and landscaped plazas, Zala hasn’t totally forgotten its past: vestiges of folk culture from the surrounding region are preserved in two museums and an annual festival.
Arrival and information
The bus station is on Balatoni út, a few minutes east of the main thoroughfare, Széchenyi tér, while the train station is a fifteen-minute walk south (reached by buses #1, #7, #10 or #11). Information and maps can be had at Tourinform, at Széchenyi tér 4 (June–Aug Mon–Fri 9am–6pm, Sat 9am–4pm; Sept–May Mon–Fri 9am–5pm; 92/316-160, zalaegerszeg@tourinform.hu). Zala’s main post office is at Berzsenyi Dániel utca 6A (Mon–Fri 8am–7pm, Sat 8am–noon). You can get online at the Procomp Internet Kávézó, on Iskola utca at the rear of the Arany Bárany Hotel.
Accommodation
The town’s sleeping options are not especially exciting, though you’ll have little trouble finding something. The cheapest accommodation is a private room (€16–25/4001–6500Ft), available through Ibusz at Európa tér 6 (Mon–Fri 8.30am–noon & 12.30–4pm; 92/511-880, zalaegerszeg@ibusz.hu).
Arany Bárány Hotel Széchenyi tér 1 92/550-040, www.aranybarany.hu. The “Golden Lamb”, in a fine old building in the centre, has smooth, decently furnished rooms in a modern wing, some with shower, some with bath. €71–85/18,501–22,500Ft
Hotel Balaton Balatoni út 2a 92/550-870, www.balatonhotel.hu. Hideous modern block, but it’s central and has a spa, and the peachy/pink rooms, each with balcony, are actually quite fine. €71–85/18,501–22,500Ft
Claudia Vendégház Körmendi út 16 92/596-738, www.hotels.hu/claudia. Ordinary, but clean, seven-room pension, 1km beyond the Oil and Village museums. Discounts for stays of more than one night. €16–35/6501–9000Ft
Piccolo Panzió Petőfi Sándor utca 16 92/510-055, www.piccolo.hu. Eight-room family pension with cosy rooms, each with small bathroom and minibar; the garden restaurant is a good place to eat. Booking essential. €26–35/6501–9000Ft
The Town
Zala’s north–south axis, Kossuth utca, is pretty drab until it reaches several squares at the northern end, more like wide streets than plazas, where Baroque and Art Nouveau buildings offer a touch of colour and an idea of how Zala looked before postwar planning changed its appearance. It’s somehow appropriate that the town’s most famous sons exemplify the Hungarian genius for making the best of an adverse situation.
The sculptor Zsigmond Kisfaludi Strobl enjoyed early success with busts of British royals and Hungarian aristocrats, and then switched to producing glorified workers (and the Liberation Monument in Budapest) under Communism, earning himself medals and the nickname “Step from Side to Side”. You can chuckle over his oeuvre, including busts of George Bernard Shaw (who declared it “better than the original”) and Somerset Maugham, at the Art Nouveau Göcsej Museum at Batthyány utca 2 (Tues–Sat 10am–5pm, in summer also Sun till 4pm; 300Ft), which also features a colourful display of archeological finds from the region, including earthenware, jewellery and mosaics. The city centre is dominated by the Neoclassical Roman Catholic church immediately to the south on Szabadság tér; completed in 1760, the fine frescoes of Mary Magdalene are by the Austrian Johann Cimbal. To the west, Deák tér bears a statue of local politician Ferenc Deák, who negotiated the historic Compromise between Hungary and the Habsburg Empire in 1867 that created the Dual Monarchy. Behind the County Hall (built in 1730–32), on the north side of the square, is a lively market selling Göcsej cheese and other local produce. A few hundred metres to the west along Rákóczi utca, facing the big InterSpar supermarket, the Sacred Heart church, a perfect pastiche of the Baroque style, was built in 1926–27 by the future Cardinal Mindszenty, at that time still the parish priest Jószef Pehm; leader of the Hungarian church from 1945 to 1975, he was ultra-conservative but stood up bravely for the Church and the people against Fascist and Communist domination. Imprisoned for six months by the Fascists, he was then tortured and jailed for life by the Communist regime; he was released during the 1956 revolution, before fleeing to the US embassy and spending seventeen years there before being allowed to go into exile in Vienna.
Heading south, it’s five minutes’ walk to Zala’s former synagogue (Tues–Fri 10am–6pm, Sat 2–6pm), an unmistakeable, lilac-painted edifice at Ady Endre utca 14. As it’s now a concert hall and gallery, it’s possible to view the Eclectic-style interior, designed by József Stern in 1903, though marred by lurid stained-glass windows and a massive organ, installed in the 1960s. Six kilometres to the west of town is the TV Tower, reached by hourly bus from the bus station; its viewing platform, complete with bar, affords fine views of the Göcsej Hills (daily 10am–8pm; 300Ft).
The open-air museums
Zala’s main attractions are three outdoor museums (April–Sept Tues–Sun 10am–4pm; 375Ft each), clustered together 2km northwest of the centre (bus #1, #1Y or #8Y). Coming by train from Zalalövő, you can get off at Zalaegerszeg-Ola station; the railway is being rebuilt and a cycleway will soon run along the old trackbed most of the way west to Zalalövő. Giant pumps, drills and other hardware dominate the Oil Industry Museum (Olajipari Múzeum), which examines the industry’s history in Hungary. Unfortunately, exploratory drilling in the 1950s and 1960s discovered far more hot springs than oil, and the most promising field was found to straddle the Romanian border, so domestic production amounts to a fraction of Hungary’s requirements.
Next door, the Göcsej Village Museum (Göcseji Falumúzeum) is the oldest of the skanzen in Hungary, and whilst it can’t compare with the one in Szentendre (see Hungarian Open-Air Museum), it does hold nearly fifty original constructions. These include a watermill, a smithy, and several beautifully carved and painted gables, but the majority are dwellings from the late nineteenth century, complete with furniture and artefacts characteristic of the surrounding Göcsej region. Traditionally, this was so poor and squalid that no one would admit to being a part of it, and enquirers were always hastily assured that its boundaries began a few kilometres on, in the next village. The third, and smallest, of the museums is the Finno-Ugrian Ethnographical Park, still being developed but currently comprising around half a dozen pine-log cabins typical of those once inhabited by the Finno-Ugric peoples.
Eating and entertainment
The town has several decent eating options. Local entertainment consists of whatever’s on at the cultural centre on Kisfaludy utca. The Filmcentrum at Széchenyi tér 4 shows art films, while Cinema City, in the Zala Plaza shopping centre northeast of the centre, screens blockbusters. For nightlife, there’s only the wonderfully 1970s nightclub and the 24-hour casino both in the Arany Bárány Hotel. The major festival in town each year is the Egerszeg Days, a five-day event with concerts and folklore programmes held during the second week of May.
Belgian Beer Café Kossuth Lajos utca 5. With a pleasant rear terrace, this offers inventive meat-heavy dishes as well as delicious if pricey Belgian beer.
Erzsébet Étterem Bersenyi utca 13. If you don’t mind the odd train rumbling by, this offers a good-value Hungarian menu.
Halászcsárda Rákóczi utca 47. Out towards the Village Museum, this is an excellent fish restaurant.
Havana Jazz Café On the alley behind the Belgian Beer Café, this has rather less raucous music, although the drinks are much the same. Mon–Thurs 11am–11pm, Fri 11am–midnight, Sat 6pm–midnight, Sun 6–10pm.
Piccolo Panzió Petőfi Sándor utca 16. This pension also has a pleasant garden restaurant, either for a meal or a drink.
Reform Étterem A La Nature Rákóczi 29. A health-food shop and café serving salads, veggie/tofu burgers and felafel. Mon–Thurs 8am–5pm, Fri 8am–3pm.
Robinson Music Pub Étterem Petőfi utca 24. A pub that also serves pizza and has wi-fi and occasional live bands.
Taverna Étterem Kossuth Lajos tér 2/Európa tér. Decent Hungarian grub served amid rustic wooden furniture and raw wool seat covers.
Terra Incognita Kosztolányi utca 5. Upstairs in the round building at the corner of Berszenyi utca, this is a very stylish restaurant and coffee house with a rooftop terrace (on top of a car park, but none the worse for that).